A 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier peers into a courtyard at the Babylon Ruins site. The soldier is part of a team surveying the site for a renovation project in the Babil province of Iraq. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Albright

What’s old will become renewed as the Babylon Historic Ruins Museum undergoes a facelift. Local contractors have begun the renovations under the coordinating efforts of museum officials and the Babil Provincial Reconstruction Team.

“We are working hand-in-hand with the Provincial Governor and we are just doing one step at a time,” said Lou Simonetti, Infrastructure Essential Services Team Lead Engineer of the Babil PRT.

The project focuses on the renovation and restoration of the museum, the exhibits, archeological artifacts, and upgrading security at the gates. Once complete, the project will benefit the economy of the province by boosting tourism there, said Simonetti.

The project will also provide a benefit to students of all age groups as they come to visit the ruins and learn about its history, said Lt. Col Brian Radliff, Regimental Deputy Commanding Officer, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment

The project is scheduled for completion in three months at the cost of just over $200,000. The site contains Nebuchadnezzar’s Palace, Alexander the Great’s Palace, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and several other temples.

“Our current focus in the last stage of our operation here is to continue to develop the Iraqi economic infrastructure within the local communities,” said Radliff. “Improving tourism, and specifically, ecotourism, with projects like the Babylon Ruin Museum will have economic benefits.”

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Story by Staff Sgt. Mark Albright

Capt. Michael T. Lanigan, the chaplain with Task Force Atlas, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Portland, Ore., and a Salem, Ore., native, explains the history and significance of Abraham's Oasis Jan. 4, during a tour of the oasis at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Lisa A. Cope

In the past 4,000 years the terrain in Iraq has changed drastically, but according to the oral tradition of the Bedouins, one of the resting places along the biblical journey of Abraham from Ur to Canaan is located at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.

The oasis at Al Asad, commonly referred to as Abraham’s Oasis or Abraham’s Well, would have been critical to Abraham’s travels through the desert.

Capt. Michael T. Lanigan, the chaplain with Task Force Atlas, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Portland, Ore., has studied the Bible and the history of the site.

“Abraham’s oasis was one of the few stopping points that … according to the oral tradition of the Bedouins, was where Abraham and his family stopped before going on to Canaan, which is Jerusalem, the promised land, where God had called him,” said Lanigan, a Salem, Ore., native.

Travel from Ur, now Contingency Operating Location Adder, Iraq, to Al Asad can be accomplished in a matter of hours in present times, but Lanigan said he estimates Abraham and his family would have spent at least 58 days traveling this 700 mile distance on foot.

Although there is no proof that Abraham stopped at this particular oasis, Lanigan said it would have made sense for Abraham to have followed a path through this area.

“[Abraham] definitely traveled north, instead of going all the way west,” he said. “That would be a deadly march because there really is not any fresh water. So he had to have moved along the Euphrates [River].”

1st Lt. Amaris A. Cervantes, the staff duty officer in charge with the 36th Special Troops Battalion out of Temple, Texas, visited Abraham’s oasis Jan. 4 with Lanigan and a small group of Soldiers.

Cervantes said, because the oasis is considered a holy site, the Soldiers were asked to secure their weapons in the truck, away from the sacred place.

Her visit to the oasis is one of the special experiences the Army has made possible for her, said Cervantes.

“Just being here [in Iraq] has been pretty exciting,” she said. “A lot of people pay a lot of money to come do stuff like this, to go [visit] this religious site. I get to do it for fun.”

Lanigan said he facilitates trips to the oasis on a monthly basis, but smaller groups are easier to accommodate.

This experience is a good way to educate service members about the history of the land they are in, as well as give them a much needed break, said Lanigan.

“It is something to kind of get their minds off of always rolling out on missions,” he said. “[It helps them] realize there is something bigger and more important, significant, in this land than just electronics and warfare.”

He said the history behind the oasis is what makes it so special.

“That is why it is a pretty cool thing, to have some geographical tie to something spiritual,” he said.

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Story by Spc. Lisa A. Cope

The Ziggurat of Ur towers of Contingency Operating Base Adder during a flyover of Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq, Sept. 19. The flight in an AH-60 Blackhawk helicopter was scheduled to provide Iraqi reporters with an opportunity to get aerial shots of the province. Photo by Spc. Gavriel Bar-Tzur

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Staff Sgt. Justin Stein, of Billings, Mont., examines the damage time has done to a walkway under the ancient Taq-i-kisra- Arch. Stein is an infantryman assigned to Headquarters Brigade, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. The leftover ruins here have been converted into a temporary Iraqi army outpost. Photo by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann

In an attempt to restore national pride and tourism to one of the oldest landmarks in Iraq, American Paratroopers and Iraqi army soldiers discussed plans for renovating the area surrounding the famous Arch of Ctesiphon in Salman Pak, Aug. 5.

The all-brick arch was built nearly 16 centuries ago and is one of the oldest free standing arches in the world. But years of neglect and war in the region have transformed the once popular attraction into an Iraqi army outpost surrounded by acres of trash and rubble.

However, as conditions in Iraq continue to improve, a new effort to renovate the area was discussed between U.S. and Iraqi army officials during a site assessment mission in the hopes to bring some heritage and stability back to the people of the greater Ma’dain region.

“About 25 years ago this area was very popular and people came from all over Iraq to trade at the marketplace that used to be here,” said Iraqi Capt. Abbas Kadhum, an Iraqi army officer who grew up in the region and currently oversees the outpost around the arch. “There was music playing all the time here, and the large fountain used to have running water that the kids would play in.”

“It was sad to see this place get torn apart in the 1990s when residents started taking ancient bricks from the arch to build their houses and walls,” added Kadhum.

Iraqi and U.S. forces discussed their hopes to start several projects at the arch site within the next few months.

“We want to start improving the area by working around the arch, I think that’s our quick fix,” said Capt. Dallas Cheatham, of Fayetteville N.C., the commanding officer of Company B, 1st Battalion, 505th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. “The first thing we are going to try and do is build a fence around this area and plant grass and trees, trying to make the area more beautiful and inviting.”

Cheatham said another goal for the project is to bring some tourism to the area that will display Iraq’s history and culture.

“The Iraqi people need a sense of pride and heritage for their country and few places in Iraq are as symbolic as the arch,” said Cheatham.

Cheatham also said once the surrounding area is complete, restoration of the surrounding buildings on the site will be looked into. These areas include the courtyard fountain, a nearby pool, visitors’ center, and the large panoramic building, which were all built in the 1980s to help bring more people to the ancient attraction.

“I’m really excited about the reconstruction and I hope it all goes well,” said Kadhum.

Cheatham emphasized that the reconstruction of this area would also symbolize the overall reconstruction of the war-torn nation and would give many of the Iraqi people hope and encouragement for the country’s future.

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Story by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann

U.S. service members and a Department of Defense civilian look around Abraham's Oasis during a tour of the site aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 12. The tour, orchestrated by the religious ministry team of Multi National Force - West, gave the visitors a chance to see a site of historical and cultural significance to the Iraqi people. Photo by Cpl. Jo Jones

Service members and Department of Defense civilians aboard Al Asad Air Base received a dose of biblical history when they recently toured an oasis and palm grove aboard the base. Dubbed ‘Abraham’s Oasis,’ this patch of fertile land in the otherwise barren Iraqi desert is thought to have been visited by Abraham, a prominent figure in the Old Testament who has been called the “father of monotheistic religions,” and is well-regarded in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths.

“Legend has it that Abraham and his family drank from the well,” said Cmdr. William Payne, deputy chaplain for Multi-National Force – West. “This was originally thought to have been one of the last stops for Abraham during his 700-mile trip after he left the land of Ur.”

The camouflage utility-clad and weapon-toting tourists met at Al Asad Air Base’s Memorial Chapel and rode buses to the small, luscious plot of water, reeds, and palm and date trees, a scene strikingly different from its dusty desert backdrop. Once there, Payne delivered a brief history of the site, its biblical significance and ongoing efforts to renovate the oasis, which houses its own small ecosystem, including various species of birds, fish and frogs.

Before 1920, the sanctuary was relatively untouched by humans except for the occasional visit by nomads passing through the area. In the 1920s, six families moved to the area and settled there for the next 65 years, scratching out a living by farming in and around the palm grove.

However, in 1985, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used the land surrounding the oasis to build an air base and paid the villagers to relocate. As years passed and the air base grew to totally envelope the oasis, it became neglected and unkempt.

In 2003, coalition forces gained control of the Al Asad Air Base, and two years later U.S. service members began picking up the trash and debris that had collected at the oasis, restoring dilapidated buildings and cleaning up a small cemetery containing the remains of veterans of the Iran-Iraq War.

A year later, the U.S. Army’s 67th Area Support Group, Host Nation Section, worked with local Iraqi citizens to restore the entire oasis and palm grove area. This effort included the removal of weeds, trash and the planting of date trees that produce 15-20 varieties of dates.

Today, the oasis sits inside the perimeter of Al Asad Air Base and on the outskirts of Camp Mejid, the headquarters for the 7th Iraqi Army Division. Working hand-in-hand with their Iraqi partners, the Marines and Sailors of Military Transition Team 7 recently began another series of efforts to restore the oasis with the assistance of engineers from the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion. These new projects included the building of a dock and gazebo, and the reinforcement of an existing stone plaque detailing the history of the oasis written in both Arabic and English.

After the brief by Payne, the 30 ‘tourists’ were free to roam the oasis to take pictures, walk along the paths lined with palm trees and fallen dates or step out on the newly-built dock over water that may have been once touched by Abraham.

U.S. service members, an Iraqi soldier and a Department of Defense civilian stand on a recently built dock in Abraham's Oasis during a tour of the site aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 12. The tour, orchestrated by the religious ministry team of Multi National Force - West, gave the visitors a chance to see a site of historical and cultural significance to the Iraqi people. Photo by Cpl. Jo Jones

“It was interesting to see the oasis because of the historical and religious significance,” said 2nd Lt. Kathryn Fahrner, an assistant safety officer with MNF-W.

While some historians debate the legitimacy of the claim that the oasis was a waypoint during Abraham’s journey from Ur to Jerusalem as detailed in the book of Genesis, the fact that many Iraqis hold on to the belief makes it significant to Coalition leaders.

“I also think people should see the oasis because it’s important to the Iraqis,” added Fahrner.

According to Payne, the organized tours of Abraham’s Oasis provide service members and civilians a break from the norm.

“This is a good opportunity to interface with Iraqi history and see a different side of Al Asad,” said Payne.

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Story by Cpl. Jo Jones