Duck-shaped weight from Ur, Iraq Museum IM3580. [5] Uprisings that followed the war also resulted in 9 of 13 regional museums being looted and burned.[5]. [38], Other institutes from America and around the world have contributed to protect sites in Iraq. 0000000876 00000 n
1. Employees turned in items stolen by their bosses.”. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification, -1) ? The Rape of Mesopotamia behind the Looting of the Iraq Museum. Before the war, leading archaeologists had warned that the museum was vulnerable, but neither Iraqi officials nor invading troops were prepared for such aggressive plunder. Jonah, writing c. 785-750 BC, was the prophet who did not want to tell Nineveh in Iraq to repent and was swallowed by a giant fish. 0000001835 00000 n
Your unit of the Pentagon is capable of demonstrating the location and expansion of illegal digging. There were also attempts to protect the sites such as the period between April 8, 2003, when the staff vacated the National Museum of Iraqand April 16, 2003, when US forces arrived in sufficient numbers to "restore some semblance of order." Over the next few weeks, stolen goods began to trickle back, including a 6000 B.C. Some 15,000 cultural artifacts disappeared in that time. Estimates of the number of looted artifacts from 2003 to 2005 are from 400,000 to 600,000 items. It was in this window of 36 hours that the thefts occurred. Jonah was in the belly of the “whale” 4 days. Some 15,000 cultural artifacts disappeared in that time. 1 and 2) The global reaction to the images was an outpouring of concern and even anger that the looting was allowed to occur while U. S. troops were nearby. Sharing the full story, not just the headlines. One early success was the famous Lady of Warka, dated to around 3100 BC; she was recovered by investigators at a nearby farm following a tip off. He had worked in the State Department as a Foreign Service officer, as an international policy analyst for the White house and also served at an acting curator for the Getty Museum. [35] Britain alone between 2004 and 2006 seized 3-4 tons of plundered artifacts. But 40 antiquities - including some of the best, like the Sacred Vase of Warka, the Mask of Warka, Bassetki Statue and the eighth century BC ivory 'Lioness Attacking a Nubian' - were stolen. "If you bring something back to the museum," Bogdanos was fond of saying, "the only question you will be asked is whether you would like a cup of tea.". Jesus sent out 70 Disciples to preach His Good News. These were the days of the prophet Daniel (c. 770-750 BC) of the Lion’s Den fame who died a captive but respected wise man in Iraq. 0000015288 00000 n
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Two days later senior curators returned, chasing off the last of the looters that had numbered 300-400 at their height. [10] Essentially the US would act as peacekeepers to train a national army and police force. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Oriental Institute Lost Treasures from Iraq database. But there was the "Pit Bull," also known as Marine Col. Matthew Bogdanos, a reservist, classics scholar and amateur boxer, who had earned his civilian nickname as a homicide prosecutor in New York City. [12] In late spring 2002, Houghton was approached by Ashton Hawkins, former Executive Vice President and Counsel to the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum, and was asked to find out what was being done by officials to secure heritage sites in the upcoming war in Iraq. On 26 May, the investigators showed up at the bank's vaults, and found them flooded with 20ft of water. [13], There had been a secret Future of Iraq Project since October 2001, with clearance from the Pentagon. Interpol and the University of Chicago have fastidiously maintained databases for objects looted from museum. Archaeological looting in Iraq took place since at least the late 19th century. Doubting Thomas and other early disciples brought Christianity to Iraq in the 1st century AD. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to 0000011857 00000 n
[11] American troops in Iraq didn't trust Iraqi power of any kind meaning that instead of using and training Iraqi police, the US military took matters of security and policing into their own hands. 5. No one was prepared for the pillaging of Baghdad’s Iraq Museum in April 2003, but a fast-thinking Marine officer Col. Matthew Bogdanos, improvised an investigation—and helped recover thousands of stolen antiquities. Terms of Use d����G
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[10] Peacekeeping was seen as a lesser job than physically fighting in combat and President Bush's suspension of former president Clinton's policies for peacekeeping not only backed up this thought but also made the US's duties to restore public order unclear. Special Forces teams would work with regional warlords to keep control of their territories. The article below, “The Looting Of The Baghdad Museum On April 2003” by Robert M. Poole, was published in Smithsonian Magazine, February 2003 Marine Colonel Matthew Bogdanos. Sadly, it appears we have not learnt the lessons of April 2003. Newest first, -1) ? Print. The looters has swept entire shelves of items into bags, and the result was 3,138 missing items, such as jars, vessels and shards. 0000001871 00000 n
��k��u����p��5*iq9u��1�Q�3��ǭ�c\Vw%Cg��RK���I%�1u��@'6���`�tB(G.�fʔs Meanwhile, many of Iraq's 12,500 archaeological sites continue to be vulnerable to looting, and the Iraq Museum remains closed, its treasures bricked up within interior storage rooms. The museum looting should have been a clarion call for the need for better protection of antiquities in conflict zones, both from combatants and local populations. [19] These two men, however, in the end were sent to other places when the conflict began. 0000031526 00000 n
try again, the name must be unique, Please "Every single item that was lost is a great loss for humanity," says Donny George Youkhanna, the former director general of Iraqi museums, now a visiting professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Other treasures were seized from international antiquities markets in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and New York. But many staff did not return, including Jassim Muhamed, the museum's former head of security. try again, the name must be unique, Please There was nothing like the World War II-era Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives task force poised to secure, track down and recover Iraq’s venerable treasures. Some sites, such as Ur and Nippur, were officially protected by US and Coalition forces. [13] Houghton could find no one designated with the task of protection and preservation of culture in Iraq. [36], Revenue from looted antiquities is estimated by the Archeological Institute of America to amount to between $10 to $20 million annually. Community Privacy Statement Log in to update your newsletter preferences, Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email. Other treasures were seized from international antiquities markets in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and New York. ''I don't think that anyone anticipated that the riches of Iraq would be looted by the Iraqi people,'' said the Centcom spokesman, Brig. [9] According to Lawrence Rothfield, former director of the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago and associate professor of English and comparative literature, this looting of the National Museum of Iraq and of hundreds of archaeological sites around the country was not prevented.