A Sigh of Relief in Libya

Safe Corner

After months of negative reporting on heritage sites in the Middle East, finally there is some good news from all five of Libya's UNESCO heritage sites. Both the 2,000 year old Roman city of Sabratha and the ruins of Leptis Magna, which had been occupied by Anti-Gaddafi forces since August, sustained little damage. In fact, Fadel Ali Mohammad, Libya's new minister of antiquities, reported minimal damage to Sabratha after his visit in early September.

Anti-Gaddafi forces are committed to preserving heritage sites and preventing looting. The rebels resisted bombing the Tripoli's Libya Museum, even after Gaddafi's officers took up camp in the galleries during the final days of the war, sleeping on mattresses beside marble Roman Venus' and Neolithic grinding stones. Like Augustus Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler before him, Muammar Gaddafi manipulated Libya's ancient history to his own self aggrandizing agenda.