Baghdad treasures 'mostly intact' [Iraq antiquities missing from museum found in hidden vault]]

BBC News ^ | June 7, 2003

[HAL9000]

American officials in Iraq have announced that nearly all the Baghdad Museum's priceless antiquities are intact, despite initial fears that they had been lost to looters during the war.

US investigators working at the museum slashed the number of antiquities listed as missing from about 170,000 to 3,000 after a secret storage vault was uncovered this week.

In another development, the investigators said they had recovered a priceless Assyrian jewellery collection - the Nimrud artefacts - which had been deposited at the Iraqi Central Bank in the early 1990s.

The discoveries meant the investigators' work in Iraq was nearly complete, the US administration said.

US forces who stormed Baghdad in April were heavily criticised for failing to protect national institutions such as the Baghdad Museum from looters.

The Pentagon defended its soldiers' actions, saying they were engaged in combat at the time.

Ancient treasure

Reports that much of the museum's collection of artefacts was missing provoked outrage in the international arts world, but the US administration said on Saturday that few items had actually been stolen.

"Earlier this week, 179 boxes that contained the vast majority of the museum's exhibition collection were discovered safe in a secret vault," it said in a statement.

"The discovery of these boxes containing nearly 8,000 of the most important items from the museum's collection means that the work of the investigation team is drawing to a close."

Other items had been voluntarily returned by museum staff who had taken them for safekeeping at the height of the war.

Staff opposed to the US-led invasion had been reluctant, however, to disclose the existence of the secret vault until now.

The Nimrud pieces, excavated between 1988 and 1991 from royal tombs beneath an Assyrian palace dating from the Ninth Century BC, were found in a flooded vault of the Central Bank on Thursday after the building's shattered remains were drained.

The collection features hundreds of gold and gem-studded items.

Despite the US investigators' successes, they had to admit on Saturday that 47 items from the museum's main exhibition were still missing.

As for the rest of the collection, British Museum experts are due to advise staff in Baghdad on how best to conserve them.

[Paul Atreides]

Well, that's one liberal whining-point checked off.

[Fabozz]

"Staff opposed to the US-led invasion had been reluctant, however, to disclose the existence of the secret vault until now."

Hmm, so let's see: Museum personnel kept the "looted" artifacts hidden, in a deliberate, politically-motivated attempt to score propaganda points against the United States. And this minor detail is buried 11 paragraphs into a story on the subject.

Well, shucks! I take back everything I've ever said about liberal bias in the media! </sarcasm>

[aristeides]

Has the NY Times corrected its story yet?

[rwfromkansas]

I doubt any network that did stories several minutes long on this will ever air a retraction.

[AntiGuv]

Hmm, so let's see: Museum personnel kept the "looted" artifacts hidden, in a deliberate, politically-motivated attempt to score propaganda points against the United States.

Um.. That seems doubtful. The museum personnel were probabably concerned about little besides not revealing the location before security was firmly established. The media is another matter altogether..

[solzhenitsyn]

I recall that when that back when the museum was supposedly cleaned out by looters, its director had some very nasty, bitter words for the USA.

What are the chances that all this stuff could have been hidden without her knowing anything about it?

What are the chances that she could have gotten her job without being a Baathist?

And finally, what are the chances that if our guys hadn't found the hidden stuff, that those who hid it would have pulled it back out of hiding and put it back on the museum shelves? Hadn't they already had plenty of time to do that, if they ever intended to?

Someone has some explaining to do.

[TomB]

despite initial fears that they had been lost to looters during the war.

What the h*ll do they mean "despite initial fears......"?

How about "despite CONSTANT, SCREAMING headlines from the BBC and other lying media sources......."?

[TomB]

Weren't there a couple FReepers peeing all over themselves about the "loss to humanity and posterity"?

[Rennes Templar]

Charlie Rose had 2 art profs on about a month ago and they were lamenting to the point of being absurd (setback to the history of mankind), the loss of said artifacts.

The thing is, if it took this long to find museum treasures, it won't be too long before WMD are found.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Since the libs creamed Bush last month for losing the artifacts, I am sure the media will now be full of mea-culpas praising Bush for recovering them.



[yeah, right...]

[FairOpinion]

How about "despite CONSTANT, SCREAMING headlines from the BBC and other lying media sources......."?
---


Exactly. If they had done a few minutes of actual investigation, such as simple Google searches, they would have found, what we were able to find, set procedures that museum personnel puts the valuable antiquities into vaults, that Iraqi antiquities were being sold off in international markets, that the Baghdad Museum was closed to the public for some 10 years, with only Saddam and his inner circle having access, that many of the artifacts actually displayed in the museum were fakes.

But they preferred going with their screaming, lying headlines, followed by screaming, lying articles, all on the front pages of newspapers, and having the liberation of Iraq as a "minor" point.

[gcruse]

Museum personnel kept the "looted" artifacts hidden, in a
deliberate, politically-motivated attempt to score propaganda
 points against the United States.

Maybe they thought we would haul them off
the way previous invaders did.  This isn't the first time
Iraq has been 'saved.'

[manx]

Golly, could WMD be hidden in a secret vault by iraqies apposed to the war? The iraqies wouldn't lie would they?

[Green Knight]

"And another one's down, and another one's down, another one bites the dust!"

Doubt this'll get any play in the media, though. All people will remember is how terrible it was that all the treasures in the museum were looted, when hardly anything was stolen at all, and it was in fact hidden IN the museum. Lying Baathists. They probably WERE looking to steal the stuff, themselves, after throwing the blame on the US for the missing stuff.

But yeah, if it took THIS long to find the missing pieces which were hidden IN THE SAME BUILDING, then it'll definitely take a while to find the WMD's. Just because they haven't been found yet doesn't mean they won't be found. Got more than 1 building to search, after all.

[Paulus Invictus]

And not just the NYT! Every liberal media outlet went wild with this story, placing it above any stories about atrocities committed by Saddam. RATs and liberal media people are scum! (but we all know that).