{"id":1085,"date":"2009-06-30T00:05:14","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2009-07-03T16:41:32","modified_gmt":"2009-07-03T23:41:32","slug":"babylon-is-being-rebuilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/?p=1085","title":{"rendered":"Babylon Is Being Rebuilt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>&gt;<br \/>\n&gt;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/authorrosen2.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-41\" title=\"authorrosen2\" src=\"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/authorrosen2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"99\" height=\"106\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>by Joel                 Rosenberg<\/strong><\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #808080;\"> [novelist]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Regular<\/strong><\/span> readers of this column and my books know that Bible prophecy says the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq will be rebuilt and become the greatest center of wealth, commerce and power in the \u201clast days\u201d of history. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Revelation are explicit on this subject. Skeptics and cynics abound, to be sure, but the fact is Babylon is being rebuilt right now, in part with U.S. taxpayer funds. Iraqi leaders hope that eventually millions of tourists will come to visit, and real progress is being made. Consider today\u2019s edition of  <em>Stars &amp; Stripes<\/em>, a U.S. military publication. They have a  fascinating story this morning headlined: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stripes.com\/article.asp?section=104&amp;article=63495\"><strong>\u201cU.S., Iraqi experts  developing  plan to preserve Babylon, build  local tourism industry.\u201d<\/strong><!--more--><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Excerpts:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are exploring the ruins as part  of a U.S.-Iraqi effort to preserve the ancient city and plan for the return of  Western tourists.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Members of the brigade\u2019s 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment escorted a  group of U.S. heritage tourism experts to the ruins last week for the first of  several visits to develop a preservation and tourism plan for the area. U.S. and coalition troops have been criticized in the past for damaging and  contaminating artifacts. In a 2006 report, the head of the British Museum\u2019s Near  East department said that, among other things, military vehicles crushed a  2,600-year-old brick pavement, and sand and archeological fragments were used to  fill military sandbags.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Now the rapidly improving security situation in surrounding Babil province  has persuaded the U.S. State Department and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities  and Heritage to embark on the preservation project, dubbed the Future of Babylon  Project.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The State Department and the World Monuments Fund have committed $700,000 to  the project, which will see U.S. and Iraqi experts develop a plan to preserve  the site and develop a local tourism industry, said Diane Siebrandt, the U.S.  embassy\u2019s cultural heritage officer.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> The Babylon project is one of several that the State Department is involved  in to conserve ancient sites in partnership with the Iraqi government, she said.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Two people with expertise developing tourism plans for historic sites in  third-world nations, Gina Haney and Jeff Allen, have been employed by the State  Department to run the U.S. side of the project. They visited the ruins for the  first time last weekend.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Haney said the pair will involve the local community in the plan\u2019s  development, as they did with a similar project encouraging Western tourists to  visit Ghana\u2019s Gold Coast.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> \u201cYou could throw money at it and do all this work, but unless you can create  a sustainable situation, your opportunities for tourism will run out,\u201d Allen  said. \u201cThe idea is to develop something that is going to be here 30 to 40 years  from now and has benefits for the local people. We don\u2019t want something that  will only benefit outsiders.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Iraqi government will be involved in the planning as well.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> \u201cIf you have 200,000 people a year coming to this site, you will have people  staying at hotels, visiting restaurants, buying souvenirs,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThe  site is in some ways a revenue generator for the local community.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Babylon could be comparable to the Egyptian pyramids, which draw millions of  tourists each year. But the area lacks the tourist infrastructure that has been  built at sites such as the pyramids, he said.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> \u201cThere is nothing for tourists here, but if you interpret and present it in  the right way, you can spark interest,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Allen, who has experience designing walkways and signs for other heritage  sites, said detailed planning won\u2019t happen until authorities have worked out how  best to preserve the ruins. The crumbling rocks of the original city are  surrounded by more elaborate and modern fortifications, including a maze-like  collection of interior walls built on top of genuine ruins during Saddam  Hussein\u2019s time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cSome of the past restoration work hasn\u2019t been very good,\u201d he said. \u201cSaddam  was trying to inherit the power of the ancients and continue that legacy. His  restoration methods helped reinforce that vision of himself, and he created a  pattern of restoration and repair work that benefited a certain agenda.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Last month, a British art publication had a story headlined, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theartnewspaper.com\/articles\/Controversial%20move%20to%20reopen%20Babylon\/17332\"><strong>\u201cControversial move to reopen Babylon: State board of antiquities and heritage believes site needs more protection.\u201d<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The story indicated that Babylon would be open for tourists on June 1st. Another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earthtimes.org\/articles\/show\/272525,taiwan-travel-agency-to-send-regular-tours-to-iraq--feature.html\"><strong>recent story out of Taiwan<\/strong><\/a> noted that a Taiwanese tour agency is starting to take people to Iraq to tour \u2014 among other things \u2014 the city of  Babylon as it is being rebuilt. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As Iraq becomes increasingly stable and secure, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/world\/iraq\/2008-09-09-iraqinvestment_N.htm\"><strong>direct foreign investment<\/strong><\/a> is going to flood in, and Iraq will become the wealthiest country on the planet. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/newsOne\/idUSTRE52812L20090309\"><strong>Exxon Mobil,<\/strong><\/a> the world\u2019s largest company, for example, is positioning itself to become a major investor in the Iraqi energy sector. Other major oil companies are doing the same. The Iraqi government in recent months has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/03\/19\/world\/middleeast\/19iraq.html\"><strong>developing investment incentive packages<\/strong><\/a> to draw in such companies. And this week, such energy companies will actually begin <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/apps\/news?pid=20601104&amp;sid=aCeQiuLhfBOU\"><strong>bidding for licenses<\/strong><\/a> to develop Iraq\u2019s immense but badly atrophied oil exploration, drilling, and refining industry. Consider, for example, this headline from the Associated Press:<\/span><\/span> <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tennessean.com\/article\/20090629\/BUSINESS01\/906290322\/1003\/BUSINESS\">\u201cWorld\u2019s big oil companies prepare for return to Iraq.\u201d<\/a> <\/strong>And this is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Skeptics take note: the Bible is coming true, one prophecy at a time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>ExileStreet<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>copyright 2008 Joel Rosenberg<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> Joel C. Rosenberg is the New York Times best-selling author of THE LAST JIHAD, THE LAST DAYS, THE EZEKIEL OPTION, THE COPPER SCROLL and EPICENTER with more than one million copies in print. He previously served as a senior advisor to several U.S. and Israeli leaders, including Steve Forbes, Rush Limbaugh, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has been interviewed on more than 300 radio and TV shows, including ABC&#8217;s &#8220;Nightline,&#8221; CBN&#8217;s 700 Club, CNN Headline News, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, the Michael Reagan Show, the Rush Limbaugh Show and the Sean Hannity Show.. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joelrosenberg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Website<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&gt; &gt; by Joel Rosenberg [novelist] Regular readers of this column and my books know that Bible prophecy says the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq will be rebuilt and become the greatest center of wealth, commerce and power in the \u201clast days\u201d of history. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Revelation are explicit on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1104,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/exilestreet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}