Buildings, Schofield shaking man's hand, buildings,

Schofield:  Who today remembers the legends of the grandeur that was ancient Babylon?  President Saddam is one who does - indeed, for the President of modern day Iraq, ancient Babylon has more than mere historical significance.

00.07.00.00

Schofield:  This is the southern palace of King Nebuchadnezzar.  In the 6th Century B.C. he was the middle east's top dog.

Throne Room

Schofield:  And this is the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of the greatest empire the world had known until this time and he made sure that everyone did know about it too.

07.27

Babylon guide Wahbi

You can see some inscriptions from the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

Wahbi:  The translation of this reads, I am Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the world, I reconstructed this building for my family and for my Gods I hope to have life in the lower world, (that means the death-life).  He likes to put his stamp on all the bricks in Babylon.

Palace shots, people walking

Schofield:  The palace was rebuilt by President Saddam.  He sees Nebuchadnezzar as the first Iraqi revolutionary and a man to emulate.

08.00

Wahbi:  It says in the era of President Saddam Hussein all Babylon was reconstructed in three stages, from Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein, Babylon is rising again.

Paintings

Schofield:  In the bible it was Babylon the whore destroyed by it's enemies and on god's order, never to be rebuilt.  But Iraq insists its history has been falsified and that it's had a bad press ever since.

08.23

Intv with Said Damerji, buildings, wall paintings

Dr. MUAYAD SAID DAMERJI

Gen. Director of Antiquities

Said Damerji:  It begins from the Genesis and the story of the tower of Babylon, and goes to the silence and to everywhere in the Old Testament where you hear the very big hatred against the city of Babylon itself.

08.39

I receive letters from people all over the world, telling me, why are you restoring Babylon again, why are you doing this?  Don't you know this is violating again the order of God.  This is not my God, this is the God of the Jewish people.

Paintings

Schofield:  But the real history of Babylon remains in doubt, particularly the Hanging Gardens.  Not so much Hanging Gardens so the theory goes as gardens stepped up into the sky and irrigated by water pumped from the Euphrates River.

09.07

Wahbi speaking to Schofield

Wahbi:  We didn't find any inscription, cuneiform  inscription from old Babylonian times about the Hanging Gardens.

09.21

Drawings of Tower

Music

09.28

of Babel,

landscape, palace

Schofield:  But the Tower of Babel certainly did.  To historians it was a structure of enormous height.  In the bible, a symbol of human arrogance.  It looks nothing like that today - just a big hole in the ground surrounded by a moat.

The palace on the hill is interesting though.  Although money for the archaeology dried up years ago, funding was found for modern palaces like this - because they fit the dream of modern day greatness.

09.46

These days that's an illusion.

Locked door, Wahbi opening it up, people walking with household goods, markets

Today the Nebuchadnezzar Museum is locked and empty - for Iraq is experiencing a wave of robberies.  Trying to survive, people sell anything they have.  On top of that, some have turned to theft.  Stealing priceless artefacts from ancient sites. 

10.01

The Iraqi government blames this on the U.N. sanctions which it says not only drive Iraqis to commit these crimes but actually obstruct the efforts to recover them.

Intv with Said Damerji

Said Damerji:  It is also a kind of violation to the embargo itself because this countries are really forbidding us from getting medicines and food for our people and at the same time allowing the traders and smugglers to transfer all our objects to them.

10.35

Palm tree,

Music

10.54

buildings,

archways, Wahbi walking along

Schofield:  To the Iraqi government, Babylon's a cult, a symbol of Iraqi greatness - towering above the weakness and the decadence of the modern Arab world, just as ancient Babylon towered above the ancient world.

Wahbi's days are empty ones - his life's work is at a standstill.

Intv with Wahbi, buildings

Wahbi:  Babylon does not belong to Iraqis only, but to all the world because it gave the first civilisation of the world.  This civilisation is not just for the Iraqis, but for all the people in all the world.

11.17

ENDS

11.32

BABYLON CREDITS

Reporter            JAMES SCHOFIELD

Camera             RON EKKEL

Sound               RON EKKEL

Editor                STUART MILLER

Research           MEGAN GOLDIN