Looters Ransack Baghdad's Antiquities Museum

Reuters ^ | April 12, 2003 | Hassan Hafidh

[kalt]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Looters have sacked Baghdad's antiquities museum, plundering treasures dating back thousands of years to the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia, museum staff said on Saturday.

They blamed U.S. troops for not protecting the treasures.

Surveying the littered glass wreckage of display cases and pottery shards at the Iraqi National Museum on Saturday, deputy director Nabhal Amin wept and told Reuters: "They have looted or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity dating back thousands of years...They were worth billions of dollars."

She blamed U.S. troops, who have controlled Baghdad since the collapse of President Saddam Hussein's rule on Wednesday, for failing to heed appeals from museum staff to protect it from looters who moved in to the building on Friday.

"The Americans were supposed to protect the museum. If they had just one tank and two soldiers nothing like this would have happened," she said. "I hold the American troops responsible for what happened to this museum."

The looters broke into rooms that were built like bank vaults with huge steel doors. The museum grounds were full of smashed doors, windows and littered with office paperwork and books.

"We know people are hungry but what are they going to do with these antiquities," said Muhsen Kadhim, a museum guard for the last 30 years but who said he was overwhelmed by the number of looters.

"As soon as I saw the American troops near the museum, I asked them to protect it but the second day looters came and robbed or destroyed all the antiquities," he said.

ARMED GUARDS

Amin told four of the museum guards to carry guns and protect what remained.

Some of the museum's artifacts had been moved into storage to avoid a repeat of damage to other antiquities during the 1991 Gulf War.

It houses items from ancient Babylon and Nineveh, Sumerian statues, Assyrian reliefs and 5,000-year-old tablets bearing some of the earliest known writing. There are also gold and silver helmets and cups from the Ur cemetery.

The museum was only opened to the public six months ago after shutting down at the beginning of the 1991 Gulf War. It survived air strikes on Baghdad in 1991 and again was almost unscathed by attacks on the capital by U.S.-led forces.

Iraq, a cradle of civilization long before the empires of Egypt, Greece or Rome, was home to dynasties that created agriculture and writing and built the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Babylon -- site of Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens.

[terilyn]

If you hadn't noticed, our soldiers are busy getting shot and killed guarding hospitals right now.

Protecting living breathing things and those trying to heal them vs things that have been dead for thousands of years.

[Fracas]

This happens in every war - and sometimes without a war. I do believe the Elgin Marbles are in London - at least, last time I checked. LOL.

If we sent soldiers to guard a museum, the howls of the left would be heard across the globe - i.e., 'we really ARE the world's policeman'. It's difficult to believe that ordinary Iraqi people would loot a museum, if for no other reason than it's difficult to fence artifacts. Some of these things are only valuable to another museum or to a collector. There's not a big demand for most of this stuff. I tend to believe those who think that the artifacts were 'liberated' by the people who knew their value.

There is no choice between a hospital and a museum. I have visited museums from Cairo to D.C. - but in a time of war, every focus should be on saving lives.

[terilyn]

Maybe you could volunteer to go and guard the museum? Our soldiers are a little busy right now thanks.

[terilyn]

I wouldn't risk a single life to save the Mona Lisa...sorry...I wouldn't.

[terilyn]

"We did not bomb the museum. Our military was very careful not to target sacred places. I believe we have a better record than the military did in World War ll. I have seen some of the destruction of the churches in Berlin. Looters looted the museum. That is unfortunate but we are still fighting this war."

Well said. There has never been a war fought in the history of war where more care was taken to protect and preserve everything possible. Including mosques and historical sites. To blame this on our troops or on the planners is ludicrous!

[churchillbuff]

I'm not particularly bothered by this.

Right, artifacts from 6,000 years of civilization --- no big deal.

[Theresa]

"Protecting living breathing things and those trying to heal them vs things that have been dead for thousands of years."

No it does not work that way. Those things MATTER. We could have protected the things AND THE people. Dammit we screwed up!!! Admit it. This is a debacle. It was negligence on our part. Period.

[terilyn]

I don't agree, therefore admitting it would be a lie.

Deal with it.

[Torie]

These folks within their matrix of values don't give a damn. That is their right. We do. That is our right. And I am quite sure this story has legs, and that there will be consequences, and that some of the posters here will kavetch about that. I won't be one of them.

[Lauratealeaf]

Well, let's see. Should we choose this?

Or this?

[Theresa]

"I wouldn't risk a single life to save the Mona Lisa...sorry...I wouldn't."

But it is done every day. The police chief of your town risks his life every day to protect property.

[terilyn]

I'll choose B every day of the week. Hands down!

[Torie]

Of course, it is a false choice. Have fun.

[terilyn]

Actually, the police chief in my town is busy chasing stray dogs and tracking down people that order pizza's to other people's houses as a prank.

People have varying opinions of what is and is not important. I happen to believe that chasing down the Fedayeen and protecting the doctors and hospitals is of significantly higher importance than protecting artifacts.
There is absolutely nothing in this world that anybody can say that will make me change my mind. Much like you.

Last I checked, people had the right to disagree.

[terilyn]

It is false to choose a human life over a piece of stone?

You choose stone over life.

We obviously disagree. Last I checked, that's still allowed.

[Torie]

Your suggestion that protecting the museum would have cost human life is tendentious. Rummy when he tries to sanatize this, if he does, won't go there. If he does, he will be shreaded. But Rummy isn't stupid, so he won't. And yes, of course, you have a right to your priorities. And I will oppose them whenever I can.

[Theresa]

You are trying to pretend that the social contract never included that people should risk thier lives to save property....which is trying to deny reality. Yes soldiers should and do risk their lives to save property. Suppose a guy breaks into your house, you run out and call the police. The guy is in your house taking your stuff. Does the police man say, "No way I am going in there, your stuff is not worth my life. " Hell no! He goes in there with his gun drawn and you expect him to do that even for a crummy stereo and a diamond engagement ring. THAT IS HIS JOB.

We screwed up and we have not heard the last of it.

[Lauratealeaf]

There is no choice between a hospital and a museum. I have visited museums from Cairo to D.C. - but in a time of war, every focus should be on saving lives.

I agree. Thank goodness the military leadership has the right priorities. I am glad that they are not like women who keep their sofas covered with plastic and still won't let their children play in the room.

[Fracas]

Shouldn't someone who uses a fancy word for 'bias' be able to spell 'sanitize'?

[Torie]

Yep. They should. But they don't. Fancy that.