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Looters Ransack Baghdad's Antiquities Museum By Hassan Hafidh Sat Apr 12, 9:03 AM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Looters have sacked Baghdad's antiquities museum, plundering treasures dating back thousands of years to the dawn of civilization in Mesopotamia, museum staff said on Saturday. They blamed U.S. troops for not protecting the treasures. Surveying the littered glass wreckage of display cases and pottery shards at the Iraqi National Museum on Saturday, deputy director Nabhal Amin wept and told Reuters: "They have looted or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity dating back thousands of years...They were worth billions of dollars." She blamed U.S. troops, who have controlled Baghdad since the collapse of President Saddam Hussein's rule on Wednesday, for failing to heed appeals from museum staff to protect it from looters who moved into the building on Friday. "The Americans were supposed to protect the museum. If they had just one tank and two soldiers nothing like this would have happened," she said. "I hold the American troops responsible for what happened to this museum." The looters broke into rooms that were built like bank vaults with huge steel doors. The museum grounds were full of smashed doors, windows and littered with office paperwork and books. "We know people are hungry but what are they going to do with these antiquities," said Muhsen Kadhim, a museum guard for the last 30 years but who said he was overwhelmed by the number of looters. "As soon as I saw the American troops near the museum, I asked them to protect it but the second day looters came and robbed or destroyed all the antiquities," he said. ARMED GUARDS Amin told four of the museum guards to carry guns and protect what remained. Some of the museum's artifacts had been moved into storage to avoid a repeat of damage to other antiquities during the 1991 Gulf War. It houses items from ancient Babylon and Nineveh, Sumerian statues, Assyrian reliefs and 5,000-year-old tablets bearing some of the earliest known writing. There are also gold and silver helmets and cups from the Ur cemetery. The museum was only opened to the public six months ago after shutting down at the beginning of the 1991 Gulf War. It survived air strikes on Baghdad in 1991 and again was almost unscathed by attacks on the capital by U.S.-led forces. Iraq, a cradle of civilization long before the empires of Egypt, Greece or Rome, was home to dynasties that created agriculture and writing and built the cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Babylon -- site of Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens. ----- Original Message ----- From: "ppg" <ppg@nyc.rr.com> To: "Dirk Adriaensens" <dirk.adriaensens@skynet.be>; <bob.steel1@juno.com>; "discussion list Discussion CASI" <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2003 11:12 AM Subject: Re: [casi] "US plans to loot Iraqi antiquities" fyi- This newly hatched "American Council for Cultural Policy" (ACCP) is the brainchild of an American art attorney, Ashton Hawkins. From Art News: "Ashton Hawkins Forced Out As Chairman of DIA Trustees of the Dia Center threatened to withhold donations unless longtime chairman Ashton Hawkins, who is also vice president and counsel to the trustees for the Metropolitan, agreed to step down. Younger trustees, allied with director Michael Govan, were dissatisfied with Mr. Hawkins because of the center's operating deficit. Dia is in the first phase of a capital campaign and several large donations were promised on the condition of his departure...(SOURCE: Roberta Smith, New York Times, 12/23/95, p. 13). Ashton Hawkins re-emerges, http://tinyurl.com/9dq8 The Art Newspaper.com "The future of Iraq's heritage" The American Council for Cultural Policy takes no position on whether or not the US should invade Iraq, but the group is offering assistance in an eventual rebuilding of Iraq's cultural institutions. Founded by former Metropolitan Museum of Art lawyer Ashton Hawkins, the ACCP is also asking other groups to join it in its efforts. The ACCP talks about working with the Iraqi Antiquities Service to rebuild cultural institutions after any new invasion. The Antiquities Service lost one generation in the 10-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s and another to the purges and scarcity of the 1990s. But Saddam Hussein does see the nationalistic benefits of an antiquities policy, and has been funding the department more generously in recent years. US archaeologists see restoring control of cultural sites to Iraqi specialists as a sign of US willingness to allow at least some autonomy for a conquered nation that George Bush says needs "de-nazification". ... More.. http://www.artforum.com/news/week=200315 UNESCO has asked the US military to spare archaeological sites in the war on Iraq, but bombs may not be the only threat to the country's cultural heritage. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Sonja Zekri reports, the period after the war could see more significant losses in the form of plundering. As Zekri reports, at the close of the first Gulf War, crowds rummaged through Iraq's museums, either destroying works or stealing them to sell on the black market. This time around, the plundering may simply be legalized by a US-backed regime. Citing an article in the review Science, Zekri reports that a group of sixty American art dealers, lawyers, researchers, and museum directors formed the American Council for Cultural Policy last year to defend the interests of private and institutional collectors. "Their goal is to loosen up the Iraqi antiquities laws under an American-controlled postwar regime," writes Zekri. "In short, it's the legalized plundering of Mesopotamian culture by Americans after US bombs have already destroyed the land, and US companies have profited from reconstruction." According to the council's treasurer, William Pearlstein, who was interviewed by Science, the group supports a "reasonable post-Saddam administration for culture" with new laws that would permit "some objects to be certified for export." Ashton Hawkins, the council's president and a former executive vice-president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, denies that the council is attempting to change laws and adds that antiquities are not the organization's primary focus. The Archaeological Institute of America's Patty Gerstenblith is not convinced. "The stated goal of the council is to make countries with rich archaeological resources relax their antiquities-export laws while encouraging the United States to loosen its laws on importing cultural objects," Gerstenblith told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. For Hawkins, the practice of keeping archaeological finds in the country is "retentionist." He believes that newly discovered objects should be bought from "local people at local prices" in order to avoid plundering and export to international black markets. "Poor countries with rich history sell their cultural heritage to rich lands with better researchers and nicer museums," concludes Zekri. "Even if the council does not succeed in influencing the Iraqi laws, a 'power, money, and conquest' strategy is clearly visible here." -Jennifer Allen Do please keep on the case. pg ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dirk Adriaensens" <dirk.adriaensens@skynet.be> To: <bob.steel1@juno.com>; "discussion list Discussion CASI" <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2003 5:29 AM Subject: Re: [casi] "US plans to loot Iraqi antiquities" [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Dear list, this aggression is getting worse. Whatever US/UK-media and Bush & Blair may tell us. The inevitable has happend. One of the most famous archeological museums in the world has been looted. And surely these people know very well to who they can sell the stolen artefacts. Now this aggression is not only depriving the Iraqi's from the right to live, their culture is also being stolen. It will be replaced by McDonalds and Coca-Cola. How much lower can the US/UK barbarians sink? We're back in the dark ages of the conquistadores. Resistance against this fourth Reich is necessary. How do we explain this to our children? What kind of world do we leave for them, if all this is possible? Greetings (from a very sad) Dirk. Baghdad archeological museum looted A Baghdad mob looted Iraq's largest archeological museum amid a breakdown in civil authority following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, an AFP reporter said. A dozen looters helped themselves in ground floor rooms at the National Museum of Iraq, where pottery artefacts and statues were seen broken or overturned, while administrative offices were wrecked. Two men were seen hauling an ancient portal out of the building, and empty wooden crates were scattered over the floor. Upstairs rooms seemed to have been spared for the time being. Iraq, among the earliest cradles of civilisation and home to the remains of such ancient Mesopotamian cities as Babylon, Ur and Nineveh, has one of the richest archaeological heritages in the world. The museum housed a major collection of antiquities, including a 4,000-year-old silver harp from Ur. International cultural organisations had urged that the archeological heritage of Iraq, one of the cradles of civilisation, be spared ahead of the US-led war launched on March 20. > > US plans to loot Iraqi antiques > ================================ > 07.04.2003 > [08:33] > > FEARS that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting > at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a > group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level > meeting with the US administration. > > It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities > collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the > American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with > US defence and state department officials prior to the > start of military action to offer its assistance in > preserving the country's invaluable archaeological > collections. > > The group is known to consist of a number of > influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq's > tight restrictions on the ownership and export of > antiquities. Its treasurer, William Pearlstein, has > described Iraq's laws as 'retentionist' and has said he > would support a post-war government that would make it > easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US. > > Before the Gulf war, a main strand of the ACCP's > campaigning has been to persuade its government to > revise the Cultural Property Implementation Act in > order to minimise efforts by foreign nations to block > the import into the US of objects, particularly > antiques. > > News of the group's meeting with the government has > alarmed scientists and archaeologists who fear the ACCP > is working to a hidden agenda that will see the US > authorities ease restrictions on the movement of Iraqi > artefacts after a coalition victory in Iraq. > > Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, leading Cambridge > archaeologist and director of the McDonald Institute > for Archaeological Research, said: 'Iraqi antiquities > legislation protects Iraq. The last thing one needs is > some group of dealer-connected Americans interfering. > Any change to those laws would be absolutely monstrous. > ' > > A wave of protest has also come from the Archaeological > Institute of America (AIA), which says any weakening of > Iraq's strict antiquities laws would be 'disastrous'. > President Patty Gerstenblith said: 'The ACCP's agenda > is to encourage the collecting of antiquities through > weakening the laws of archaeologically-rich nations and > eliminate national ownership of antiquities to allow > for easier export. ' > > The ACCP has caused deep unease among archaeologists > since its creation in 2001. Among its main members are > collectors and lawyers with chequered histories in > collecting valuable artefacts, including alleged > exhibitions of Nazi loot. > > They denied accusations of attempting to change Iraq's > treatment of archaeological objects. Instead, they said > at the January meeting they offered 'post-war technical > and financial assistance', and 'conservation support'. > > Liam McDougall/Sunday Herald > > Web address : <http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/portside> > > --------- End forwarded message ---------- > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today > Only $9.95 per month! > Visit www.juno.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss > To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk > > _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk