have never traveled to Iraq and knew
too little about its history or culture until a few weeks ago. But
when the war began, and I heard the nightly reports of conflict in
places such as Basra, Najaf and Mosul, I did a bit of homework.
One of my information sources was the online brochure of a tour company called Bestway Tours
& Safaris, which had planned to offer two tours of Iraq this
year, one in the spring and the other in the fall.
Obviously, the spring tour never happened, and it isn't likely
there will be a program available for quite a while. Still, with
the war ending, at least we can envision a point in the future when
Iraq will be restored to the world's tourism map.
We can also hope that despite the heavy damage it incurred, the
land described in the brochure as the "first civilization on earth"
will be rebuilt with substantial U.S. assistance.
Preserving the antiquities of Iraq has been problematic since
the first Gulf War more than a decade ago. Many valuable artifacts
were taken out of the country during and after that conflict, as
profiteers sought to make money in the international markets. In
this war, we have learned of the looting of museums housing
invaluable collections.
It will be a long while before Iraq's infrastructure is
stabilized. The first order of the day must be to restore livable
conditions for the country's millions of citizens. As the economy
improves, tourism again will be regarded as an important source of
revenue.
My brief home-study course reminded me of the extraordinary
potential of Iraq as a tourist destination. As the Bestway brochure
notes, Mesopotamia, Iraq's ancient name, is "where it all
began."
The land includes the site believed to be that of the Garden of
Eden and another that contained the fabled Hanging Gardens of
Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
It is the land of the Sumerian civilization dating to 4000 B.C.
In the course of its history, the land we know as Iraq gave birth
to the first urban society, the art of writing and the first
wheeled vehicles, craftsmen, masons and smiths.
Nothing -- no war, no relentless assault by air and land, no
amount of damage -- can take away what the land represents. And
nothing will prevent it from returning one day as a country
millions will wish to visit.
We engaged in devastating wars in Germany and Japan, and later
provided administrative and economic assistance to stabilize and
restore those countries. Today they are potent economic forces and
popular tourist destinations.
We should do no less for Iraq.