Is Indiana Jones the next victim of Egypt's revolution? (Zahi Hawass)

Christian Science Monitor ^ | February 14, 2011 | Dan Murphy

[Pan_Yan]

In the waning days of the Mubarak regime he threw his weight behind the established order, and also appeared to have hid the extent of the damage done at the famed Egyptian museum ...

Ping.

[cripplecreek]

I've met a few foreign archeologists over the years who claimed he refused to issue permits because their theories did not square with his own

Who does he think he is? A climatologist?

[pointsal]

....Is there a money trail on this fellow??????

[kbennkc]

Zahi goes bat guano when someone suggests the pyramids were built by extraterrestrials because Egyptians are obviously stupid.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Oh, man I'll miss this guy and his blinding insight like how Labor Unions are the secret behind the Pyramids.

(See #3 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt's_Ten_Greatest_Discoveries)

Come to think of it maybe this revolution isn't so bad as I am thinking....

[Uri’el-2012]

The real "Indiana Jones" died on December 27, 2010.

Vendyl Jones

[youngidiot]

This nut has a tv show now. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but he has a short fuse.

[Cicero]

Sounds like more twaddle to me. I’d say that he’s doing his job, and the camel riders and would-be mummy thieves resent it.

[Ramius]

Zahi goes bat guano when someone suggests the pyramids were built by extraterrestrials because Egyptians are obviously stupid.

Well... I think Zahi is an attention-grabbing nitwit... but I suppose I'd also go bat guano if somebody seriously tried to say that the pyramids were built by aliens.

[cripplecreek]

Agreed but that’s no reason to deny access. The ancient aliens charlatans just make up their own evidence anyway so letting them study won’t do any harm.

[ponygirl]

Hate to tell you, but someone has seriously tried to say that. Repeatedly:
http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens

You would think it would be on the Speculation Channel... but no, it's the History Channel.

[mass55th]

"I’d say that he’s doing his job, and the camel riders and would-be mummy thieves resent it."

According to articles at his website, Hawass put these restrictions in place mainly to protect the pyramids and the Sphinx, and to make a better atmosphere for the tourists. He claimed the camel riders and vendors were overrunning the place, harassing the tourists for money for every little thing. From what I understand, the camel riders required money from the tourists to take their pictures, and vendors were constantly following the tourists around wanting to sell them souvenirs.

[Tax-chick]

He’s an attention-hound, but I don’t see that he’s done much harm. If ancient Egypt’s portable remains are valuable to humanity, they should be stored somewhere more functional than modern Egypt. That’s just common sense.

[Red Badger]

I’ve seen a lot of his shows, and you get 75% Hawass opinions and 25% Egyptian stuff on screen.....

[cripplecreek]

He’s quite the little dictator from what I’ve read. As I understand it you don’t want him to even suspect there might be some artifact under your house because it will be a pile of rubble by nightfall.

[Cicero]

That makes sense to me. And the other protest seems to be that everyone working for the Antiquities Commission wants a big raise in pay.

Where’s that going to come from, if the tourist business has been shut down by all this turmoil? Tourism is just about Egypt’s only source of income.

This guy may be a bit of an eccentric, but I think he’s protecting Egypt’s antiquities as best he can. It’s not his fault if stuff was stolen from the museum. It’s the rioters and the revolutionaries, who were encouraged by Obama and his pals. I presume the reason he didn’t immediately announce that valuable stuff had been stolen was that he didn’t want any more thieves to try their hand at it.

As usual, the Christian Science Monitor gets everything backward.

[ozzymandus]

Judging from his TV show, the guy has an O’Reilly/Olbermann sized ego. I'm surprised one of the workers he’s always yelling at hasn't dropped a big rock on his head.

[Pan_Yan]

As usual, the Christian Science Monitor gets everything backward.

Actually, there was a paragraph in the middle of the article listing his good points, but I wasn't able to get it in the excerpt.

[Jmouse007]

Zahi Hawass is most likely corrupt as the day is long. He holds total sway over nearly all of Egypt's antiquities and has done so for decades. You want to deal with any of it you have to go through him. I am sure he has pocketed some hefty bribes in his time and has a nice "stash" hidden away which was paid to him for "access" to Egypt's ancient treasures. Too bad he will probably not live to enjoy his ill gotten gains.

The Muslims and Muslim Brotherhood will want to destroy these pagan relics once they run the place because all of history that does not jive with their contrived false "god" allah and their twisted version of history has got to go.

Zahi Hawass is the one man who stands in their way... hence he had better "take the money and run" or stay and face a nasty beheading or firing squad. He is a marked man and if he is smart he had better get out of Dodge ASAP.