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34987123 others on this long thread may have mentioned this, but I wonder why the curator isn't thanking the US for NOT bombing the museum. Lost and looted articles are at least in one piece and can be begged, borrowed, bought or stolen back.

Actually, of the 4,000 objects stolen from Iraqi museums after the first Gulf War, only 3 or 4 were recovered. What happens is they end up in the hands of private collectors or in the trash. Lacking a market (which is inevitable for all but the most priceless of the items), they throw them away. Probably because they fear consequences for the theft.

but I wonder why the curator isn't thanking the US for NOT bombing the museum. Lost and looted articles are at least in one piece and can be begged, borrowed, bought or stolen back.

Likely because the curator is a Saddamite appointee who knows how to play to the Al-Jazeera 'blame-USA-first' coverage. Any act of US kindness and concern for Iraq's cultural heritage is to be seen as weakness, or at least thoroughly ignored.

viz. my other comment about the shrine at Kerbala. we treated that shrine far better than practically ever Muslim conqueror to come through that city, even thought it risked Marine lives to not fire back at the saddam fedayeen holed up there. those who have spilled blood on that shrine include Saddam in 1991, and the fanatics last week, who murdered a competing cleric on its hallowed grounds.