Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

New York Times ^ | April 12, 2003 | JOHN F. BURNS

[APBaer]

"a planned museum robbery."

Paging Murph the Surf, pick up the courtesy phone please.

[Wilhelm Tell]

This truly is tragic. A lot of what has been taken will never be seen again--lost to civilization forever. I'm sure most of the looters are ignorant people who will break up priceless artifacts and sell the pieces as junk metal. This is kind of the same mentality of the looters who took hospital equipment to sell as scrap. People stealing Saddam's golden doorknobs is one thing--I can laugh at that. Ancient artifacts are eveyone's heritage. We are all diminished by their loss.

[Duramaximus]

Mr. Muhammad, the archaeologist, directed much of his anger at President Bush. "A country's identity, its value and civilization resides in its history," he said. "If a country's civilization is looted, as ours has been here, its history ends. Please tell this to President Bush. Please remind him that he promised to liberate the Iraqi people, but that this is not a liberation, this is a humiliation."

How about thanking CNN for their failure to report the events of the past. Events that if they had been reported would likely have led to the dethroning of Saddam years ago!

Now then, how about thanking the French, Germans, and Russians who supported the Saddam Hussein regime for decades. Their deceit and lies perpetuated the existence of Saddam's dictatorship, and his subsequent torture of the Iraqi people for years.

Mr. Muhammad, you self-righteous idiot, go stuff it up your ...! It is not our fault that "your people" looted "their treasures".

Another shining example of the New York Times trying to besmerch the shining successes of America's campaign to free the people of Iraq. Shameless commie-lib bastards!

[Lauratealeaf]

Actually few if any of these priceless artifacts will ever be found. Similar looting occurred after the Gulf War, with thousands of items stolen, and only about 4 were ever found. A few items will find their way into private collections, but most will simply be used and abused until they disappear, if not melted down or disassembled for trinket value. These items did not represent Arabic or Muslim history, but rather represented the history of the world.

Many of those "priceless" artifacts were found in Jordan after the Gulf War. Saddam Hussein had total control over everything in that museum, including funding and physical control. I would not be surprised if some of the artifacts also show up in Jordan, again.

[UncleSamUSA]

Don't worry, antiquities lovers, most of the good Sumerian and Assyrian artefacts have been in the British Museum in London for decades now.

Many others are in other European and American museums as well. Western archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries picked the place pretty dry, and not much was left "in situ". For reasons that are now pretty obvious.

[UncleSamUSA]

And someone tell that idiot Mr. Muhammad that he ought to be blaming Saddam for the humiliation of the Iraqi people - who were enslaved by a sadistic dictator for 25 years and had to be "liberated" by a hated American military power against the will of almost the entire Arab world.

That is MY definition of humiliation, chum. We liberated your sorry asses and if you cant show gratitude then shut the fuck up.

[KingKongCobra]

This truly is tragic. A lot of what has been taken will never be seen again--lost to civilization forever. I'm sure most of the looters are ignorant people who will break up priceless artifacts and sell the pieces as junk metal. This is kind of the same mentality of the looters who took hospital equipment to sell as scrap. People stealing Saddam's golden doorknobs is one thing--I can laugh at that. Ancient artifacts are eveyone's heritage. We are all diminished by their loss.

Hardly. All that great stuff isn't worth the life on one soldier who might have died to protect it. Fini

[VRWC_minion]

How do we know when this stuff was looted if no one was allowed to see it ?

[wideminded]

This truly is tragic. A lot of what has been taken will never be seen again--lost to civilization forever. I'm sure most of the looters are ignorant people who will break up priceless artifacts and sell the pieces as junk metal. This is kind of the same mentality of the looters who took hospital equipment to sell as scrap. ... Ancient artifacts are eveyone's heritage. We are all diminished by their loss.

Totally agree. Unfortunately this same mentality seems to occur closer to home, maybe even right here on FR.

[Scothia]

Don't worry; it'll all end up on eBay eventually.

[wideminded]

Thanks. Your's is the first post with first-hand information either here and or in the much longer earlier thread: Looters Ransack Baghdad's Antiquities Museum

The people running the show have done an amazing job overall, but this incident will probably never be forgotten.

[weegee]

A full accounting of what has been lost may take weeks or months. The museum had been closed during much of the 1990's, and like many Iraqi institutions, its operations were cloaked in secrecy under Mr. Hussein.

So what officials told journalists today may have to be adjusted as a fuller picture comes to light. It remains unclear whether some of the museum's priceless gold, silver and copper antiquities, some of its ancient stone and ceramics, and perhaps some of its fabled bronzes and gold-overlaid ivory, had been locked away for safekeeping elsewhere before the looting, or seized for private display in one of Mr. Hussein's myriad palaces.

Or perhaps some valuables were looted (embezzled) long ago (10+ years) and what was once "out of sight, out of mind" was suddenly going to be open to public scrutiny.

[weegee]

The problem that comes up is that the location and date of items is unknown even though they are known to be authentic.

There is a gold museum in Peru that contains looted treasures and it is of some historical value but not nearly as much as if they knew what regions different items came from.

I will say this. Ancient Jewish temples are being plowed under in the Middle East with no thought to historical preservation. Either cultural past has special regard or it doesn't, the journalists don't get to pick and choose.

[weegee]

You've got several on this thread (including me) who agree with you.

[weegee]

Is that one of Saddam's sons?

[weegee]

Don't know what he said but I did find this:

This account has been banned or suspended.

[wideminded]

I thought he had a very interesting post as he was the only person with an opinion here who has actually been to the museum in question and seen the stolen items which he said were PRICELESS and IRREPLACABLE. He was somewhat critical of the Marines in his last line and this probably got him banned. As he had been a Marine officer himself perhaps he is entitled to more license than most.

[knuthom]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most of the valuables were probably stolen by the museum staff and directors, and they're using the looters to deflect blame

Yes, I smell a rat here. The article mentioned "vaults with huge steel doors". How did the looters get through those. And why has the museum been closed for years?