Iraq town seeks shift from ‘terrorism’ to tourism
Madaine , Feb 25: Suspected of being a biological weapons site under Saddam Hussein and later an Al-Qaeda stronghold, an Iraqi town wants to return to its previous status as a centre for archaeology and tourism.
Madain, a town of some 7,000 inhabitants, was founded by the Parthian King Mithridates I more than 2,000 years ago.It now lies between the two main highways linking the capital with southern Iraq, as do historical sites such as the Arch of Ctesiphonand the tomb of Salman Pak — one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammed.
“We want to restore life to this place and make it one of the beautiful places for tourism,” said Abdelhadi Hassan, director of antiquities in the town, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Baghdad.He said that both Iraqis and foreigners used to visit the gardens and parks in the town.
Postcards from the 1970s show luxuriant gardens and arbours, but today there is little foliage because the irrigation pipes were destroyed and the trees were cut down for firewood by inhabitants during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.
In 1986, according to the UN, the Iraqi biological weapons programme was developed in the area, and during the 2003 invasion, American forces said they captured Egyptians and Sudanese in a “terrorist training camp” in the town.
Al-Qaeda in 2005 made the town its stronghold, manufacturing car bombs and other explosive devices, while its fighters attacked the police and US forces, and constructed “dungeons” in the orchards in the area to detain victims kidnapped from the nearby highways.
Former Iraqi intelligence chief General Mohammed Shahwani dubbed it a “guerrilla hideout.”Both Sunnis and Shiites want to see Madain become a tourist destination once again.- AFP
