BABYLON, Iraq -- Here beside the ruins of one of history's greatest cities, the frustrations of modern Iraqis seem especially poignant.
Little remains of Babylon's legendary glory. Desert sands long ago swallowed up the hanging gardens that were among the wonders of the ancient world. Archaeologists who uncovered the splendid Ishtar Gate at the beginning of this century shipped it off to Berlin. Most of the other treasures found here are now at museums in Germany, France and Britain.Great emperors like Darius, Xerxes, Alexander and Nebuchadnezzar fought for and ruled this region, and today, together with the rest of Iraq, it is once again a battleground. President Saddam Hussein is determined to maintain his rule, but the United States and Britain want to drive him from power.
Because Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled from 605 to 562 B.C., brought his empire to a peak of wealth and power, it is perhaps inevitable that Saddam would seek to bask in his glory. A billboard that greets visitors to Babylon is dominated by portraits of both men.
At the site where the royal complex once stood, a poster proclaims, "From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein, Babylon Invokes Its Glories on the Path of Jihad and Glorious Development."
But in nearby villages there is little to evoke past triumphs. Eight years of economic sanctions have left the region around Babylon severely deprived.
The United Nations imposed the sanctions after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. They were intended to force Saddam to limit his rearmament program, compensate Kuwaitis for the damage he wreaked on their country, account for those missing, and respect human rights within his own country.
The sanctions, which ban nearly all foreign trade, have produced little progress toward those goals. They have, however, reduced many Iraqis to poverty.
Soon after Iraq's defeat in Kuwait, the United Nations approved a plan under which the Iraqi government could sell limited amounts of oil and use the profits to buy food. At first Saddam refused to accept the plan, fearing that it would be used as an excuse to maintain the sanctions indefinitely. In 1996, he changed his mind, and from that moment the lives of ordinary Iraqis improved from wretched to simply bad.
Oil sales now pay for more than $5 billion worth of food each year, the largest aid effort in the history of the United Nations. More than 250 U.N. aid workers who monitor the program left Iraq before last week's allied bombing raids but began returning Tuesday night.
"This program has been the major change in life here since the bad times began eight years ago," said a European diplomat based in Baghdad. "It's of really major importance to the Iraqi people, because it provides a basic ration to millions of people who might otherwise starve."
Under the aid program, each Iraqi is entitled to a basic monthly ration of flour, cooking oil, tea, salt, sugar, rice, dried beans and soap. Families with small children also receive infant formula.