Experts: Looters had keys to Iraqi antiquity vaults

Associated Press ^ | 4-17-03

[Oldeconomybuyer]

PARIS (AP) -- Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting.

The U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I thought this was all our fault? /wanker

[Sacajaweau]

How about.......Duh!!!

[Grampa Dave]

Sounds like an inside job of the museum people and the Wankers of UNESCO. UNESCO is the UN way to pillage a village or a country.

[michigander]

Iraq War Threatens Ancient Treasures

Decisive Action Might Protect Sites

With war in Iraq perhaps only hours away, archaeological professionals both within and outside of Iraq are doing all they can to prepare for it.

From Yemen, Selma Radhi reports that "the National Museum has been shut for a while, and this is a necessary precaution. They'll remove all the objects and put them in secure vaults; they did the same in the previous war. The staff is very professional and are perfectly capable of taking care of everything."

[scooby321]

Saddam' Henchmen

who hired the people and oversaw the museums.

[mewzilla]

Gee, it wasn't Joe Looter after all. Who'd'a thunk it?

[stop_fascism]

Why wan't everything packed up and put into storage? Where was the staff when the looting was happening. Were the museum's curators Saddam's cronies (usually these are political jobs)? Looks like an inside job to me.

[sinkspur]

Over here. As some of us said, this was done by professional thieves who were waiting for the right opportunity.

[I'm ALL Right!]

I suspected this from the start. It's too obvious.

[sinkspur]

Why wan't everything packed up and put into storage?

It was. Then, apparently, the farmer gave the keys to the henhouse to the foxes.

[MEG33]

Yea, we dropped the ball and it happened on our watch.We protected the ministry of oil and Rumsfield was insensitive.We promised!Firemen risk their lives for property..why not soldiers?Did I list every thing?

[pbear8]

if a good police team was put together, "I think it could be cracked in no time."

[Howlin]

FYI.

[mass55th]

Let's hear from those Freepers who blamed America first.

[Grampa Dave]

Of course this whole looting thing is a scam by the Museum thugs and the UN Thugs to cover up the fact that the Museum was looted by their buddy Soddomite years ago.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/894176/posts


This is a flashback to an article, "Iraqis selling Antiquities" published in 1996.

The article published 7 years ago noted that plundering and looting was on a massive scale.

So the cries of the Museum and its friends in the liberal media are more than likely a ruse to cover up the pilfering done by Soddomite and probably the elite of the Museum, years ago.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/894176/posts

[mewzilla]

FWIW, Brit Hume read something from Archaeology magazine on his show last night, a letter to the editor type thing. It stated that the museum staff had practiced loading up and carting away the collection to a hidden location, all to be done in a 24 hour period of time when advance notice was given. Of course, this assumes that Saddamn and his cronies had left anything worth hiding. (That might explain the presence of fakes in the museum collection.)

[The Dude Abides]

Wasn't Harrison Ford working on another Indiana Jones movie? Maybe its going to be a reality series.

[Fifth Business]

Thanks for the ping. Gibson's a good source. He's got good connections in Iraq, having been excavating there since the 1960s. He led the University of Chicago's Nippur excavation for years, up until the first Gulf War.

[cyncooper]

I suspected this from the start. It's too obvious.

Yes.

Unless one is waiting to pounce on an opportunity to criticize and undermine our forces and the administration.

[Howlin]

On Brit's show last night, they quoted from an article in this month's Archeology Magazine stating that the staff had been TRAINED by the regime to remove and store everything in the museums within 24 hours of the beginning of the war. I wonder why they didn't.