"Only government buildings" being looted was the watchword of the Flag Squad here yesterday. Just open a paper, visit any news site...
Red Cross: \"chaotic and catastrophic\" situation in Baghdad
Full Version: hospitals ransacked, shops looted... US troops watch
This is quite funny... first, the failure was not going to the UN and getting the resolution, next we were bogged down. The next was the supplies were not getting there, then it was failed cause baghdad would not fall easity, next they said the poeple would not welcome us with open arms, all failures and all proven wrong... now, the looting is completely out of control. Which will be temporary and under control in due time. So in a day or 2 i will be back to remind you that order has been restored and you can hit your next doomsday theory of never being able to establish a govt...
Rumsfeld: "untidiness."
Anyways, in addition to the people still be killed (US soldiers, Iraqi citizens, etc.), the looters have cleared out hospitals, leaving many without necessary medicines or equipment, and stole over 170,000 antiquities and treasures from the Iraq Museum, estimated to be worth many billions of dollars. Some date back 5000 years. I know they want to celebrate Saddam's ouster (where IS he?) and need some money, but come on!
How long before the treasures start turning up on Ebay?
Anyways, in addition to the people still be killed (US soldiers, Iraqi citizens, etc.), the looters have cleared out hospitals, leaving many without necessary medicines or equipment, and stole over 170,000 antiquities and treasures from the Iraq Museum, estimated to be worth many billions of dollars. Some date back 5000 years. I know they want to celebrate Saddam's ouster (where IS he?) and need some money, but come on!
How long before the treasures start turning up on Ebay?
The plundering of the National Museum of Iraq is tragic.
Priceless, irreplaceable artifacts from the earliest days of recorded civilization have been removed. Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked. Or the British museum emptied.
[ April 13, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]
Priceless, irreplaceable artifacts from the earliest days of recorded civilization have been removed. Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked. Or the British museum emptied.
QUOTE
Officials fought back tears and anger at U.S. troops as they ran down an inventory of the most storied items that they said had been carried away by the thousands of looters who poured into the museum after daybreak Thursday and remained until dusk Friday, with only one intervention by U.S. troops, lasting about half an hour, around noon Thursday.
Nothing remained, museum officials said, at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East.
As examples of what was gone, the officials cited a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era, which began about 3360 B.C. and started to crumble about 2000 B.C.
Another item on their list of looted antiquities was a sculptured head of a woman from Uruk, one of the great Sumerian cities, dating to about the same era, and a collection of gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings, also from the Sumerian dynasties and also at least 4,000 years old.
. . .
Muhammad, the archaeologist, directed much of his anger at President George W. 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.''
Nothing remained, museum officials said, at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East.
As examples of what was gone, the officials cited a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era, which began about 3360 B.C. and started to crumble about 2000 B.C.
Another item on their list of looted antiquities was a sculptured head of a woman from Uruk, one of the great Sumerian cities, dating to about the same era, and a collection of gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings, also from the Sumerian dynasties and also at least 4,000 years old.
. . .
Muhammad, the archaeologist, directed much of his anger at President George W. 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.''
[ April 13, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]
QUOTE
canmark:
The plundering of the National Museum of Iraq is tragic.
Priceless, irreplaceable artifacts from the earliest days of recorded civilization have been removed.
I'll agree with you that this is a sad and tragic loss. However, I would discount the opinion of an official with a prestigious national museum, who likely got his position because of his willingness to play toady to the Hussein clan, when he self-servingly blames President Bush for the looting. I'm sure that's what his (now deceased) master would have us a believe.The plundering of the National Museum of Iraq is tragic.
Priceless, irreplaceable artifacts from the earliest days of recorded civilization have been removed.
But it's enough to make him the toast at the next Nancy Pelosi fundraiser.
[ April 13, 2003, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]
The LOOTING HAS MADE THIS WHOLE CAMPAIGN A FAILURE, this week... tune in next week to the failure of...
ya, we'll tune in next week, just in case you post something related to sports. 
yes, i have a hot armpit pic to post... brb LOL
I think the looting of hospitals and the National Museum, in particular, is tragic. I would like to think the US is doing all it can to protect hospitals. I recognize that in a city where firefights, suicide bombings and sniping are still likely occurring, the safety of US troops must remain the number one priority. Some degree of anarchy must be expected during the power vacuum following the unexpectedly rapid collapse of regime authority in Baghdad. Hopefully, order will be re-established soon.
Having said that, I must confess I found myself wondering what these teary-eyed museum curators were doing while bombs rained down on the city. The display cases must have been well dusted. I'm dumbfounded at their dereliction of duty. This is part of what curators do - safeguard the collection. Wouldn't it have been prudent to pack the contents up and move them somewhere where they could have been more easily protected? I smell something fishy. They better take a good look in the basements of museum staffmembers.
Hopefully some of the items will be recovered in time.
Having said that, I must confess I found myself wondering what these teary-eyed museum curators were doing while bombs rained down on the city. The display cases must have been well dusted. I'm dumbfounded at their dereliction of duty. This is part of what curators do - safeguard the collection. Wouldn't it have been prudent to pack the contents up and move them somewhere where they could have been more easily protected? I smell something fishy. They better take a good look in the basements of museum staffmembers.
Hopefully some of the items will be recovered in time.
Nothing to see here folks, just a bit of "untidiness", just step over those dead bodies and move along now.
I agree with the scepticism concerning what the museum staff was doing during the war.
Many iraqis themselves said that the robberies (going into hidden vaults etc) hints at the looters being museum staff. People with inside knowledge. Perhaps the priceless items are now in Syria with other members of Saddam's staff?
Many iraqis themselves said that the robberies (going into hidden vaults etc) hints at the looters being museum staff. People with inside knowledge. Perhaps the priceless items are now in Syria with other members of Saddam's staff?
All of Iraq's treasures are safe and sound in Syria. Except that statue they couldnt quite get down without help.
QUOTE
PhillyFan:
All of Iraq's treasures are safe and sound in Syria. Except that statue they couldnt quite get down without help.
Is that where all of their WOMD are too?
All of Iraq's treasures are safe and sound in Syria. Except that statue they couldnt quite get down without help.
I thought that was their national treasures?
I think those elusive WOMD will keep being moved to the next country that Rumsfeld wants to bomb.
My favorite will be France, only who would put up a better fight... France or the Elite Republican Guard? Lets ask germany, they have alot of practice going into France.
QUOTE
canmark:
Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked.
That analogy would work only if we were old enough to have a history. Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked.
The museum thing does sound like an inside job (the curators had locked most of the collections in vaults, but the looters got into the vaults). Still, it's not surprising that nobody thought to protect culture or health care ... look how much priority this administration gives to either in the U.S.! Besides, isn't "giving back to the people" the justification for tax cuts?
Anyway, it's not as if it's a real cultural treasure like, say, Southfork!
QUOTE
danimal:
Anyway, it's not as if it's a real cultural treasure like, say, Southfork!
Yeah, really, thank god they didnt get Sue Ellen's salt and pepper shakers.
QUOTE
canmark:
Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked.
That analogy would work only if we were old enough to have a history. Imagine the Smithsonian ransacked.
Anyway, it's not as if it's a real cultural treasure like, say, Southfork!
Robbing the Archaeological Cradle
QUOTE
During the bombing of Baghdad, the Iraq Museum was closed and its holdings dispersed for safety to the regional museums and the vaults of the Central Bank in Baghdad. The unanticipated sequel was that the bank was bombed, and during the uprisings that followed the cease-fire, at least seven of the regional museums were looted. The full extent of the losses is not yet known; however, some 4,000 objects have been reported missing from the regional museums. ... Rebuilding the professional staff, diminished by hardships and cutbacks, is a major challenge, because the education of the upcoming generation has been disrupted.
Arguing that Iraq has not fulfilled the terms imposed by the cease-fire, the United States has consistently used its UN Security Council veto to maintain the sanctions. As a result, over the years, most kinds of nonhumanitarian assistance to Iraq have been blocked, including a planned UNESCO mission to assess damage and even a request to import photographic supplies to reproduce images of stolen artifacts for Interpol. The Department of Antiquities and Heritage has managed to protect and document a few major sites and to reopen the Iraq Museum, but for the most part, we are witnessing the destruction of a very promising past. Once gone, it can never be recovered.
Date of publication: February 2001.
Arguing that Iraq has not fulfilled the terms imposed by the cease-fire, the United States has consistently used its UN Security Council veto to maintain the sanctions. As a result, over the years, most kinds of nonhumanitarian assistance to Iraq have been blocked, including a planned UNESCO mission to assess damage and even a request to import photographic supplies to reproduce images of stolen artifacts for Interpol. The Department of Antiquities and Heritage has managed to protect and document a few major sites and to reopen the Iraq Museum, but for the most part, we are witnessing the destruction of a very promising past. Once gone, it can never be recovered.
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