Posted on 04/12/2003 7:05:07 AM PDT by 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.
I believe that you say those words. I also believe your values to be warped. No one should die defending a rock.
IMHO, the tablets were far more important.
In a single word; Massada.
Do you know how many scholars were just aching to get in there? This was on of the prize possessions of the entire world.
The Ten Commandment tablets were also lost, and they nevertheless managed to have a profound effect on civilization. It is the words which are important in the historical context, and not the stone objects they were chiseled on...
In December, the U.S. military knew it had to take steps to preserve the archaeological treasure trove that is Iraq. They set out to locate the approximately 10,000 (some estimate 100,000) sites, some going back 7,000 years, and many of which are unexplored.
It also tells about the looting which went on after the Gulf War. Pretty eye opening. In addition the author states this:
I wrote about the high cost of antiquities because that is what is relevant to an Ancient / Classical History site. Archaeologists and classicists value these treasures far more than most people. Their loss indirectly affects their livelihoods and passions. The cost in human lives is, however, infinitely more serious and important in this or any war. I pray for peace.
At least that guide recognizes the value of human lives over antiquities. Even today our troops are involved in a firefight in Baghdad and the war is not over. And yet, armchair war critics continue to snipe.
Think of the importance to history and biblical studies should these tablets actually exist. However, if those tablets ever truly did exist (and were not a fable) the text was recorded and preserved. What was in this museum was 200,000 artifacts!
How do you think we preserved those over the years? Osmosis?
Again, much was not photographed. And repeating was posted here already, a photo cannot take the place of the object itself to a scholar, nor the records of where it was found, what it was with, etc. I will not continue to harp on this. Just IMHO, what was lost will long overshadow this war in future history.
You have a good day also.
I have relatives and friends over there right now. I fear for their safety very much. Also I am truly greatful for the return of the POWs!! This is wonderful news!!!!!
Please do not think I was laying blame on amyone, I just was deeply saddened this happened.
You are correct in your assumption that the most important texts would have been photographed or copied, transcribed, and translated. The uncataloged stuff is mostly economic texts. But those are important for historical study also. If you want me to elaborate I will.
It's because I value human lives that I value antiquities! The guide is not thinking it through.
Why are human lives valuable, over and above what animal lives are worth? In large measure, it's because of the uniquely human genius to live the life of the mind, and to produce the work of the mind. This museum was filled with the work of the mind, not just one mind at one moment, but the lifetimes' work of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of minds. Of course it is worth human lives to protect that. To believe otherwise is to fail to value human beings as anything beyond mere living, breathing animals.
Frank Zappa once said, (paraphrased) "There will never be a nuclear holocaust. There's too much real estate involved." There's some truth in that flippant remark. Humans value their history and heritage, their man-made achievements, their holy sites and objects, their cultural and historic treasures.
Allow me to pose a question. If Cairo, Istanbul, or Damascus were "nuked," which would you regret more, the loss of lives or the loss of historic objects in those cities? I know my answer. Why do you think the neutron bomb was developed? And why do you think it scared the bejeezus out of people? I think it is noble that your heart bleeds for the loss of life during war, but it's par for the course. Actually, they say death even comes upon people during times of peace.
Nicely put.
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