3 resign from U.S. art panel to protest Iraq museum looting [Clinton appointees]

Newark Star Ledger (AP) ^ | 4/18/03 | AP

[Incorrigible]

3 resign from U.S. art panel to protest Iraq museum looting

Friday, April 18, 2003

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest U.S. military unresponsiveness as Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities was looted, even though reports suggest the thefts may have been carried out by professional thieves.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, meanwhile, said his agency was in on the hunt for looted Iraqi treasures.

Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, each appointed by former President Clinton, said they were disappointed by the military's failure to protect Iraq's historical artifacts.

"The tragedy was not prevented, due to our nation's inaction," Sullivan, the committee's chairman, wrote in his letter of resignation.

Noting that American scholars had told the State Department about the location of Iraqi museums and historic sites in Iraq, he said the president "is burdened by a compelling moral obligation to plan for and try to prevent indiscriminate looting and destruction."

But art experts and historians suggested yesterday that thieves, likely organized outside Iraq, pillaged the nation's priceless ancient history collections by using the cover of widespread looting -- and vault keys.

The bandits were so efficient at emptying Iraqi libraries and museums that reports have already surfaced of artifacts appearing on the black market, some experts said. Certain thieves apparently knew exactly what they wanted from the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections, and exactly where to find them.

"It looks as if part of the theft was a very, very deliberate, planned action," said McGuire Gibson, president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. "It really looks like a very professional job."

Gibson was among 30 art experts and cultural historians assembled by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris to assess the damage to Iraq's heritage in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.

But it remained unclear exactly what was gone and what survived the looting and thievery. With many museum records now in ashes and access to Iraq still cut off, it could take weeks or months to answer those questions.

Establishing a database was a key to finding out what had survived, and tracking down what was stolen, the experts said.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said some of the greatest treasures -- including gold jewelry of the Assyrian queens -- were placed in the vaults of the national bank after the 1991 Gulf War. There was no information on whether those items remained inside.

The pillaging has ravaged the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections that chronicled ancient civilization in Mesopotamia -- the home of modern-day Iraq. Although much of the looting was haphazard, experts said some of it was highly organized.

"They were able to obtain keys from somewhere for the vaults and were able to take out the very important, the very best material," Gibson said. "I have a suspicion it was organized outside the country. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was."

Many at a UNESCO meeting feared the stolen artifacts have been absorbed into highly organized trafficking rings that ferry the goods through a series of middlemen to collectors in Europe, the United States and Japan.

The FBI was cooperating with the international law enforcement organization Interpol in issuing alerts to all member nations to try to track any sales of the artifacts "on both the open and black markets," Muller said.

Ahead of the war, Iraq's antiquities' authorities gathered artifacts from around the country and moved them to Baghdad's National Museum, assuming the museum would not be bombed, Gibson said.

"They did not count on the museum being looted," he said.

Much anger has been directed at U.S. troops, who stood by and watched as Iraq's treasures were carted off.

Koichiro Matsuura, director- general of Paris-based UNESCO, called yesterday for a U.N. resolution imposing a temporary embargo on trade in Iraqi antiquities. Such a resolution would also call for the return of such items to Iraq, he said.

"To preserve the Iraqi cultural heritage is, in a word, to enable Iraq to successfully make its transition to a new, free and prosperous society," the UNESCO chief said.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the United States "in liberating Iraq worked very hard to protect infrastructure in Iraq and to preserve the valued resources of Iraq for the people of Iraq."

"It is unfortunate that there was looting and damage done," she said.

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.

[SW6906]

HEY! Knock that off!! We can't have facts getting in the way of the Bush-bashing! I oughta hit the abuse button on the likes of you! ;o)

[BOBTHENAILER]

I wonder why they didn't resign when the White House was looted...

More required reading for AVRWC.

By the way "a vast right wing conspirator", inquiring minds want to know who you voted for in 96, 2000 and your intentions in 2004?

[Theresa]

So what we have is information that before the war, American collectors who think that it is not nice that Iraqi's are so stingy with their "stuff" met with the defense department shortly before the war to ah...pledge their support.

I am not spending another day on this.

[FairOpinion]

"Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned "

----

I just had a thought: where is THEIR responsibility in this?! Sullivan was actually the head of the Advisory Committee.

Maybe if THEY had done their job, and raised the possibility of "looting" or theft of these treasures during and right after the war, our Special Ops may have contacted the museum curators, and made sure that the treasures are hidden where Saddam's officials don't even know.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

I just don't understand what's so terrible about this. These objects, which had been cataloged and studied in detail, are not lost forever. At worst, they will end up in some rich guy's collection to resurface years from now in another museum or on the auction block. In much the same way that treasures from Egypt or Greece wound up in the capitals of Europe.

And unlike the Spanish conquest of Peru, they're not going to be melted down for the gold content. In fact, throw in some mythical mumbo-jumbo like the Spear of Destiny and I could see this as the plot line for the next Indiana Jones movie.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Curious that those who re-write history, ignore and mock tradition would be so upset about "artifacts". They're almost as convincing as those who "care about the children" while pushing legislation that undermines parental authority, or the so-called "humanitarian" NGOs/UN/International pimps who profit from the suffering of others (while condemning America, the real liberators). The act is as tiresome as today's latest Abu Dhabi terrorist act/Saddam video. As belly girl would say, "you shut the Hell up, (Clinton appointees). We'll save civilization!"

[nicmarlo]

Don't remember who you pinged the other day (or was it only yesterday) about digging into these people's stance about what the Clintonistas did to the White House/Air Force One treasures upon the Klintoon's leaving office....and any possibility of getting axed if they don't "retire." But, here's another thread, FYI.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

If Americans were involved in the theft, they no more represent the coalition or the US government than Saddam represented his victims. Let 'em try to blame the Bush administration or the coalition forces. A few of us could use a good fight right now.

[aristeides]

Expert Thieves Took Artifacts, UNESCO Says .

[jimbo123]

AP Flashback: Clintons Return Furniture

[Grampa Dave]

Do you mean the anti Joo, Pro Islamofacist Nutwell is now concerned about the looting? Doesn't surprise the rest of us. Since 9/11 it has been very hard to tell Nutwell from the Islamofacist Press Wingnuts.

I will not bother to go his website. If I do my computer will have be deloused.

[jimbo123]

Flashback: Clintons return White House gifts as sleaze row flares

[nicmarlo]

The Klintoons are white trash, if ever there were any. In fact, I'm certain I saw their picture in the dictionary by that phrase! : )

[Grampa Dave]

It will be interesting if this POS poser responds to you.

If he claims he voted for GW, say sure and you voted twice for Clinton and twice for Goron.

[RooRoobird14]

I think it's great that these grand-standing Clintonistas resigned and NOBODY CARES!!!

The left continues to try to change the subject re: the SPECTACULAR victory in Iraq.

[PISANO]

Good......get the hell out and go kiss the scumbags a$$!!

[Semper Paratus]

Whatever excuse they needed to bail is fine with me.

Bush can now appoint Dennis Miller, Ann Coulter, and Wayne LaPierre to replace them.

[hattend]

Let's not fill their positions and save a couple of hundred thousand bucks. Give me the tax cut.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

In an election where a clown and a moron where attempting to replace a pervert?

For none of the above. Naturally.

By the way, which one was your pick? I suspect... one of the 2 - (ROTFLMAO)

(Oh and I did proudly vote for Ronald Reagan. Every time I had a chance. And GWHB too, only because he was Reagan's successor. But we are all allowed a few mistakes for as long as we learn from them. I learned from my mistake. Have you learned anything from yours?)

[af_vet_rr]

Think they were looking for a way out and a way to take a jab at President Bush as well?

The Iraqis running the museum all but said it was and inside job. They said replicas weren't looted (which if it were common thieves, they would have grabbed anything that looked valuable) and that the thieves knew exactly where to go and what to get. This had nothing to do with the US not protecting anything.