In pictures: Iraq museum reopens

[L. Coyote]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7905968.stm

[damntexdem]

1. It's good that it's open, but ...

the U.S.'s failure to protect the cultural heritage of Iraq, an obligation that it had under international law as an occupier, led to the loss and destruction of much of that heritage. This, more than anything else about the illegal invasion of Iraq, may be why today's U.S. will be criticized in future centuries.

[KansDem]

2. Something like 15,000 items were looted while US troops stood by...

I'd be checking Dick Cheney's fireplace mantel or den...

[sabra]

3. I read that they have been able to retrieve ~6k items back, so where's the other 9k items?

[malaise]

4. He wouldn't be the only one I'd check

I'm willing to bet that the cronies have some of the best pieces.

[L. Coyote]

5. NY Times: Iraq Museum Reopens Six Years After Looting

Great photo at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/middleeast/24museum.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Only 8 of the museum’s 26 galleries are open.

By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: February 23, 2009

BAGHDAD — Well over half the exhibition halls in Iraq’s National Museum are closed, darkened and in disrepair. And yet the museum, whose looting in 2003 became a symbol of the chaos that followed the American invasion, officially reopened on Monday.

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