As a student of history and archaeology this is an aspect of the conflict in Iraq that has always intrigued or troubled me:
The looting of not only the Iraqi national Museum, but of in effect the whole of Iraq, robbing the world of important historical context to interpret our past.
The CBC aired a documentary examining the issue, exploring the various players: organized looting squads, international dealers, defenders of the artifacts, and the scholars researching the crime.
Link to some info from CBC on documentary:
http://www.cbc.ca/cbcworldwide/robbingthecradle/
I did find somethings interesting, such as who the major international players/traders are: #1 Israel with government licences (unfortunately fronted by a Canadian/Israeli citizen), #2 British traders under the table, #3 Switzerland "cleansing" the artifacts, and #4 Jordan the main point of departure.
Also interesting was the US decision to only defend "Biblical" sites with military forces; showing perhaps that even in the secular "West" allows religion to colour policy. It was kind of sad to see the US Colonel shocked to be told that Nippur was only a short drive from his base... and that it was one of the oldest cities in the world, and the place where writing, accounting, civil law, architecture, and empircal science was first recorded. I say sad because his major was Middle Eastern History... and that his response was somthing along the lines of: Nippur? Are you sure it's important? I don't think it's mentioned in the Bible...
Equally disturbing was the protestaions of Iraqi guards, who begged to be allowed to carry weapons to defend historic sites, as well as themselves from gangs of looters. Or of the image of Iraqi police, who while guarding another site, offering priceless artifacts to the journalists making the documentary. Or of the "photo-op" where the museum was opened for a day, journalists invited in, and "recovered" pieces on display again.. while in reality the pieces on display were actually locked away for protection by Sadam in the first Gulf War, and the museum was closed the next day, and the US Colonel investigating the looting was reasigned back to the US and his team disolved.
But I digress, I believe more needs to be done to prosecute these people who have participated in the looting of Iraq, as these people are not only commiting a "war crime" (if done during war), or at the very least an international crime; but they are robbing the world of the untold knowledge of the past, but robbing the Iraqi people of their heritage. The US and Israel need to be reminded that they signed the 1970 UNESCO act prohibiting the sale of looted artifacts, and prosectute their citizens who violate this act... and go after the private collectors who have knowingly bought the looted material.
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