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June25,2006 - July2,2006 |
Saving a Patrimony of All Humankind
Italian professor Giovanni Curatola attempts to safeguard Iraqi treasures amidst chaos
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2004-03-14
Two all-terrain vehicles, sporting U.S. insignia, were returning to Saddam Hussein's former presidential palace Saddam in Baghdad, where the Civil Provisional Authority is headquartered. It was just after noon, in the Iraqi capital striving to go back to a "normal" life. Suddenly, an explosion shook the noon air. A remotely controlled bomb had detonated, seconds after the two vehicles had passed. The vehicles did not blow up, but their windows were shattered. A shard pierced the neck of the only woman on board, killing her on the spot. She was the only victim of that attack.
"That woman, Nahla, was my interpreter," says Giovanni Curatola, one of the targets of that bomb. "An exceptional woman; to me, it's as if I had lost one of my students. One cannot die like that at 24 years of age, when hopes are beginning to take shape."
Giovanni Curatola, professor of Archaeology and History of Muslim Art at the University of Udine, had been sent to Baghdad by Italy's Foreign Ministry as an aide to Ambassador Mario Bondioli Osio, in charge of culture and of safeguarding Iraq's archaeological treasures.
Professor, evidence points to you being one of the targets of that bomb.
"Not personally. The attackers are not hitting U.S. forces only, but also anyone collaborating with them. On that occasion, they were targeting me as well as the other people working with me at the Ministry of Culture. I avoided the attack because I wasn't riding in the vehicles: I was attending a meeting. One who risked his life was Major Michele Facciorusso, who commands the Carabinieri unit protecting Iraq's cultural patrimony and works in very close connection to our group. He was on the same vehicle with Nahla, but he came out unwounded. That wasn't the first time, either: a few weeks earlier he had come out unscathed from the Nassiriya massacre."
Soldiers aside, how is Italy helping Iraq?
"Italy having the third most numerous presence in Iraq should say something about our commitment, not just in military assistance, but also in economic terms and in civilian personnel available for the reconstruction. Many Italians are working for the various branches of the Civil Provisional Authority. Every branch is de facto controlled by Paul Bremer, Bush's trustee in Iraq, even though the top officials are Iraqis. Don't imagine huge bureaucracies, though: at the Ministry of Culture, for instance, the Ambassador is assisted by me, three more Italians and an American. There's huge work to do, and we are doing it by working tirelessly."
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