Here we Go Again - Our vandalised War Cemeteries - A pragmatic view!

Yes the photo is from 2003 there`s more here
A view inside the Kut Cemetery located in Al Kut, Iraq, as US Marine Corps (USMC) Marines assigned to Service Platoon, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), Headquarters Group (HG), prepare to rededicate the World War I (WWI) era British Cemetery, during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM | U.S. National Archives

Its use was to highlight the anger and concern that people have when viewing them irrespective of place or date. There`s loads more without really looking at Mosul etc (Jan 2018)

British war graves smashed by fanatics revealed in Mosul | Daily Mail Online

Kut War Cemetery was renovated in 2016 the photograph of the renovation was taken before completion and there`s another image taken from the middle of the cemetery online which shows partially completed work the cwgc site have some more acurate re-dedicated images. Hopefully its still intact .

No idea if there is a real answer So I will leave it there.

Kyle

 

I was aware that some of our War Cemeteries can (and do) attract hatred, drunks, tramps and drug addicts but...witchcraft?

''But at North Gate, the caretaker, whose name The Sunday Telegraph is withholding for security reasons, does tell stories of having to occasionally defend the turf from marauders. One day, not long after the fall of Saddam, he saw from his house overlooking the cemetery a group of supporters of the former president coming through a hole in the fence.

"The cemetery was very overgrown at the time, and they were carrying cans of petrol to set it all ablaze," said the caretaker, whose father and grandfather also did the same job.

"I grabbed a Kalashnikov that I keep at my house and fired several shots in their direction, and they fled. They were doing it out of hatred, they did not realise that this is a site with important heritage."

On other occasions, the cemetery has been used by drunks and tramps, and even by Iraqis practising witchcraft, for whom soil occupied by non-Muslim tombs is said to have special magical properties.

"One day I caught a woman burying a spell written on a piece of paper that she had wrapped in a piece of her hijab," the caretaker added. "She said she was having trouble conceiving, and that a witch had told her to come here."

Above via: Peace in Iraq offers hope for Baghdad's British war graves

Tony Buckley www.asiawargraves.com

 

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