Associated Press

April 22, 2003 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Ancient Samarra Stands Largely Untouched

BYLINE: BORZOU DARAGAHI; Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: SAMARRA , Iraq

BODY:
Amid the destruction of this war - the bombing, the fighting, the looting - this elegant city was left largely untouched.

One of the world's architectural wonders, its golden domed mosques and its graceful minaret stand unscathed. Though its residents were mostly pro-Saddam Hussein, the city's elders capitulated to American forces before any real fighting took place.

"Maybe they didn't want their beautiful city destroyed," said Tahseen Taha, a Kurdish Iraqi visitor to Samarra , 70 miles north of Baghdad on the east bank of the Tigris River . Its name is said to mean, "he who sees it is delighted."

But though the mosques and the Melwiya minaret stand and the electricity still runs, many of the Sunni Arabs here, like the people of Saddam's Tikrit hometown farther north, remain embittered by the presence of the Americans.

"Human beings lose all worth when they're subjected to occupation," said Abdul Jabbar Al Abbasi, who has worked as a ticket taker at the Melwiya minaret and mosque site for 20 years. "It's nonsense that Americans want to bring freedom to Iraq . They'll only bring more hate upon themselves."

Even Moussa al-Samarrayi, who was forbidden to work as an archaeological tour guide because he refused to join Saddam's Baathist Party, said the American occupation had brought sad days, none sadder than the morning American helicopters hovered around his revered minaret.

"We are a proud people," he said. "The Americans must leave as soon as possible."

Samarra 's treasures date back to at least the 6th century B.C. Its heyday was the 9th century, when it was capital of the Abbasid Caliphs.

A largely unexplored 35-square-mile field of ruins has tantalized archaeologists worldwide since the early 20th century, when the famous French architect Henri Viollet surveyed the area.

The city also retains a religious significance, hosting the tombs of two 9th century Sunni Imams, Ali al-Hadi and al-Hasan al-Askari, and pilgrims often come for worship.

Saddam made some attempts to salvage the country's historical treasures, allowing teams of foreign experts to examine sites. But he outlawed antique shops for fear neighboring Iranians would buy up Iraqi treasures, and had an old 9th century mosque redone to look like a cross between a 16th century Persian house of worship and a Las Vegas casino.

"He didn't actually spend on any money on preserving archaeology," said al-Samarrayi.

Saddam's meager efforts fell by the wayside once war began. The Baghdad regime used ruins of the 9th century village of Khalifa as mortar and artillery outposts. Unused shells litter the mounds, which conceal insights into the life and times of 9th century Mesopotamia .

Al-Samarrayi, looking dismayed at a U.S. Army resupply convoy pushing up the road toward Tikrit, said he and his friends had been volunteering day and night to safeguard the archaeological sites from looters and vandals.

"Everywhere you walk in Samarra hides important pieces of archaeology. It is all sacred ground," he said.

Saad Khadheiar, looking at the iconic Melwiya minaret spiraling 57 yards high, said: "It's a reminder that Iraq had a history before all of this started. And a reminder that it will have a history after all of this is finished."