[kalt]

This seems unfortunate.

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[Drango]

"I hold the American troops responsible for what happened to this museum."

I blame the looters...

[Nick Danger]

Oh, the humanity! This is all our fault. Why, if the black-clad Fedayeen Saddam were still in the streets, slitting the throats of anyone who stepped out of line, this would never have happened.

Say this for Mussolini Saddam, he made the trains run on time.

[Ditter]

This really upsets me. This museum was the ONLY reason I would have ever wanted to visit a free Iraq.

[HairOfTheDog]

This seems unfortunate.

It is unfortunate. Even Saddam's palaces are beautiful structures I hate to see destroyed. It is a mess without immediate cure. I hope our people, and our press, can be patient that this is not a known situation we have practiced before. The infrastructure for law and order over there is all but *gone*. The best minds we have are trying to figure out how to handle this, but they will not be able to prevent broken plates. At least they aren't killing each other... yet, and that potential certainly exists. Our people will have the beginnings of a process soon. Hopefully it will be soon enough!

[x1stcav]

Something's not quite right with this. If the items in the museum were protected by bank-like vault doors, how did the looters get in in the first place?

In any event I'm not particularly bothered by this.

As General franks said, I think our troops have more pressing concerns than dealing with looters.

[YOMO]

deputy director Nabhal Amin 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." .................................
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Lady, lighten up already. Our troops are fighting a war and watching for Crazies trying to kill them. While it is indeed unfortunate that your stuff was looted and the losses are in the Billions, it is not worth the loss of a single US Military person. We are taking over the Government, feeding the people, restoring electricity, water, supplying hospitals, and other work that keeps people alive.

[Lael]

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

Makes perfect sense to me...while children were dying because Saddam hogged [PIGGED OUT!!!] on 'UN Oil for Food' $$$$$$$$$$$$$, 60+ % of Iraqi's lived on table scraps. All the while he rebuilt Babylon!!!

Those who couldn't forsee this 'looting' of the Antiquities Museum truly couldn't translate "The [hand]Writing on the Wall!"

BTW, the Kurds just entered Nineveh [Mosul], but withdrew under pressure from the Turks.

[syriacus]

"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." [snip]
Amin told four of the museum guards to carry guns and protect what remained.

Why didn't she arm her guards earlier?

I hope some official checks to see if she or some of her friends now have some of the pieces.

[RonHolzwarth]

The loss of the antiquities collection will be Saddam's one lasting legacy -

which will be remembered for thousands of years.

[ex-Texan]

I beg to differ. Most likely the raid was carried out by Saddam's black shirted thugs disguised as "angry citizens." I believe the "mob" was acting under orders. We will get back some of the stolen treasures eventually.

But the damage has been done.

[mass55th]

Nabhal Amin wept...

Did she cry when Iraq looted Kuwait's antiquities during the Gul War?

[TC Rider]

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

The way the article is written, it seems that the looters are blaming the troops.

[per loin]

The museum director and top staff should be prosecuted for failure to protect such national treasures.

[Nebullis]

Looting likely done by Syrians, Jordanians, and Egyptians.

[joesnuffy]

More like Baghdads Iniquities museum
8 million pictures statues plaques and autobiographies of Saddam Hussein...
Now living in luxury off the coast of France

[Prince Charles]

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.

Shove it up your arse... our troops have more important things to do.

[syriacus]

The 2003 Iraq War & Archaeology

Antiquarians already seemed concerned that the coalition would destroy the museum's collection during this war.

Shouldn't the items already have been protected from potential war-related destruction? They had three weeks to do something.

It seems that the museum directors trusted the Americans would not bomb the building during all the nightime raids on Baghdad. It looks like some Iraqis could not be trusted.

[genefromjersey]

Oh dear ! ( Sob ! ) Those ( Choke ! ) barbarians !!

[keats5]

We must have our reasons to allow this lawlessness for awhile. When it ceases to serve our purposes, we'll stop it.