Priceless mystery shrouds Iraq's missing artifacts

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050619/lf_afp/iraqantiquities_050619214900

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Archaeological sites in southern Iraq have been systematically looted for over two years, but experts say the dig will have to go much deeper to find out where thousands of lost artifacts have ended up. snip

What is known is the shocking breadth of looting, with satellite images showing ancient sites turned into chessboards of square-shaped holes.

"There's been more dirt moved after the (2003) war by looters than there ever was by archaeologists and looters combined before the war," says Stone.

On the ground, archaeologist Abdal Amir Hamdani, in charge of antiquities for Dhi Qar province, home to some of Iraq's most famous archaeological sites, says his focus has shifted from looters to smugglers.

[tanyev]

1. Has anyone checked Cheney's bunker?

[Desertrose]

2. damn this really pisses me off..among many other things ....

how many centuries these artifacts have been caretaken...get bush the destroyer in and poof...all gone.
:grr::grr::grr:

[malaise]

3. Start with the contractors

these people are shameless. Any bets loads of it are in the US and UK?
Who was that famous brit who stole from graves in Egypt. Of course Lord Carnovan was the original grave robber.

[barb162]

7. graves were being robbed in Egypt shortly after the

pyramids were built as the robbers knew the Egyptians buried a lot of wealth in the graves/ pyramids

[Gelliebeans]

16. when we finally get his ass

out of the white house we need to go to Crawford and start digging around the ranch. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we came up with some artifacts. Don't criminals usually take trophies from the scene of the crime?

[pacifictiger]

17. I remember when

he claimed Saddam's personal pistol for himself - I cringed because that action spoke so loudly of his crass and predatory nature. At the very least, the pistol should have been donated to the smithsonian or some other museum for future historical consideration. But he needed to have his war loot just like the rest of the warmonger carpetbaggers.

[Gelliebeans]

19. very telling indeed

about this psychopath in office eh.

[UpInArms]

4. Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq: 'Stuff happens'

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/11/sprj.irq.pentagon/

Saturday, April 12, 2003 Posted: 12:24 AM EDT (0424 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein.

He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.

"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," Rumsfeld said. "They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here."

Looting, he added, was not uncommon for countries that experience significant social upheaval. "Stuff happens," Rumsfeld said.

...more...

Guess that they haven't "adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein" yet :crazy:

[rustydog]

5. I was about to say: look into whoever took the 8 billion, you may

find the artifacts also.

[dArKeR]

6. It's buried next to the Bush/GOP Killing Fields!

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Why is it that the first image that popped into my head was of

Goebbel's trainload of stolen artifacts from the Louvre?

[Jose Diablo]

9. Dars gold in dem dar hills

Either that, or somebody very wealthy is looking for something lost long ago.

Who can say for sure?
:shrug:

[Javaman]

10. So let's see...

We invade the country, cause countless civilian deaths, destroy their economy, starve their children, have open sewer water running through the streets, cause 60% unemployment, occupy their country, default on actually building up their society, hardly any medical treatment to be had, have constant black outs, barely enough potable water, and to top it all off it's hotter than a frying pan during the day.
So, lets put ourselves in the life of an average civilian.
I get up, have no work, bombs going off in my neighborhood, friends and family are getting killed daily, the only job offered is a death sentence(police or security), I can't get a cup of coffee because the water is polluted, I keep my kids at home because they have no school, we can't cool ourselves off because the power has been out for the past 12 hours, I can't walk freely out into the street without being questioned, let alone being taken away, by the U.S. Army to abu garib. I worry about my children's health because they aren't getting enough basics in food. I can't go to the pharmacy to get my meds, because their are no meds to be had except on the black market. If I dare to make a trek to the local food store, I take my life in my hands, because everyone owns an automatic weapon.
So why oh why would priceless artifacts go missing????? Hmmm, I think we can fill in the blanks.

Colossal failure*

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. cheney & co. only care about one antiquity in Iraq - Oil.

[Karenina]

12. I beg to disagree.

It's a MULTI-FECTA COUP! Antiquities showing up under glass in Texas mansions, scrolls that actually recorded our common history locked up like presidential records or destroyed, weapons left unguarded to be looted, a civilian population CULLED from the herd by the Ami *MIC (never mind dey be cullin' deyselfs in da process) "*creative" destruction ÜBERALL, ohne ende...

[magellan]

13. I just saw a program on Free Speech TV about this

All about the plundered museums and ancient sites. One part showed a museum in Baghdad. It had been bombed AND looted. They showed the lady curator walking through the rubble in tears. She asked why it had been bombed, and said the looting everywhere was very systematic and happened quickly, like it was organized well beforehand. (Implying, at least to me, that she thought the US was in on it...though perhaps only by way of opportunists and criminals who saw their moment. However, there was an appalling photo of one US soldier on the shoulders of another, digging at an ornate wall inside an unidentified building.)

Many who spoke for the documentary, including archeologists and Iraqi intellectuals, were of the opinion that the US meant for this to happen in order to destroy Iraqi culture and supplant it with another. Whatever the motive, it's a devastating loss in every regard. What's gone missing in Iraq is being equated to the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria, or losing the Smithsonian.

I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the program.

[Nihil]

14. Just another swarm of barbarians

> However, there was an appalling photo of one US soldier on the
> shoulders of another, digging at an ornate wall inside an
> unidentified building.

That would be the two US soldiers trying to prise off panels from a
golden door in one of Saddam's palaces. "Just frat pranks".

> Many who spoke for the documentary, including archeologists and
> Iraqi intellectuals, were of the opinion that the US meant for
> this to happen in order to destroy Iraqi culture and supplant it
> with another.

100%.

Iraqi culture had history (not just a few centuries).
Iraqi culture had tolerance (not just a single religion).
Iraqi culture had knowledge (not just theocratic doctrine).
Iraqi culture was thus "BAD" and had to be eliminated, replaced by
the "GOOD" crusaders (with any valuable trinkets being booty) who
could convert the heathens, sell them their unwanted "assistance"
and wipe them from the history books.

[pacifictiger]

18. ah yes

the library at alexandria - destroyed by the romans ala pax romana.
Fast forward 2 millenia we have PNAC, pax americana, and the looting of civilization's earliest antiquities.
The heartbreak of it all is so immense.

[aion]

15. Nazis and Romans love other people's art

They have to take by force what they cannot create themselves.

[struggle4progress]

20. kick