looted museums

[Guerilla poster]

Kind of sucks that all the antiquities from Baghdad's museums have been looted. They will probably end up on E-Bay

[Mulan]

I'm pretty sure all that was taken was the same vase over and over. And that the Iraqi's were just exercising their "freedom" after decades of no freedom....

This is what Rumsfeld told me at least.

[Guerilla poster]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/galle...936742,00.html


Looks like more than one vase. Rumsfeld such a damn liar. How can people actually like this guy?

[Grace]

I was sick over this all weekend. I worried about the national museum during the bombing, and once the looting exploded. The US military had been warned that looting had happened in 1991, and had been apprised repeatedly of what was in the museums.

This guy articulated some of what I've been feeling.

Originally Posted by Melancholy Barbie

I was sick over this all weekend. I worried about the national museum during the bombing, and once the looting exploded. The US military had been warned that looting had happened in 1991, and had been apprised repeatedly of what was in the museums.

This guy articulated some of what I've been feeling.

Fisk is awesome.
Bush is not.
This sounds a lot like the energy meetings that took place right before the energy boys looted California...

Originally Posted by article

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.

http://www.sundayherald.com/32895

[Pseudolus]

I love museums. I really do. I spend a lot of time in museums of all kinds - science, art, history, you name it. You could even call me Dr. Museum Non-Fan Non-Fan. But if my country had been ruled by a totalitarian dictator for decades, and then suddenly it wasn't, I would consider the loss of even a really nifty museum to be such small potatoes, in comparison, that it would barely merit notice. It would be like a surgeon saying "The good news is we cured your brain tumor, but the bad news is you'll have a small scar protruding just beyond your hairline."

[Guerilla poster]

I just said it sucked. The US could have done a little more to protect it - I am not blaming anyone here - but I still think Rumsfeld has trouble with the truth.

He could have more elagantly answered the way you did. You want a job.

[Mulan]

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

I love museums. I really do. I spend a lot of time in museums of all kinds - science, art, history, you name it. You could even call me Dr. Museum Non-Fan Non-Fan. But if my country had been ruled by a totalitarian dictator for decades, and then suddenly it wasn't, I would consider the loss of even a really nifty museum to be such small potatoes, in comparison, that it would barely merit notice. It would be like a surgeon saying "The good news is we cured your brain tumor, but the bad news is you'll have a small scar protruding just beyond your hairline."

On the other hand, it would be nice to think that people would not loot (STEAL) a country's treasures no matter what the circumstances. I don't think the people looting are "enjoying their newly found freedom", I think they are STEALING and WRONG and criminals looking for easy riches. I would guess the majority of Iraqi's feel that way too.

I agree that in the long run, the loss of museum treasures is not the worst thing that can happen, but it does point out nicely how wrong Rumsfeld is, which was probably the point of the thread (to me anyway).

[Grace]

Yes, personal safety must always be paid for in museums. Eventually the scholars and curators who devoted their lives to knowledge of and care of the 5 to 7000-year-old treasures from the cradle of civilization will come to see this, and their silly sobbing will turn to their own jubilant looting.

[fallout]

Originally Posted by Guerilla poster

I just said it sucked. The US could have done a little more to protect it - I am not blaming anyone here - but I still think Rumsfeld has trouble with the truth.

He could have more elagantly answered the way you did. You want a job.

How could the US protect it?

Chasing the looters with their guns? What if the looters just kept running? What would they do? SHoot them? wrestle them? Take prisoners? What would CNN show? Americans tackling and handcuffing Iraqis?

When you think about it, the US can not stop the looting. Not while being PC, anyways. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.