Just received this email (below). I pass it on in light of Histarch's
recent splurge of discussion on this topic.

Robin





OpinionJournal

Best of the Web Today
April 17, 2003

By JAMES TARANTO

Protecting Iraq's Antiquities
The Wall Street Journal (link requires WSJ.com subscription) reports that
the looting at Baghdad's Iraq National Museum wasn't as bad as early
reports had it:

Thanks to Iraqi preparations before the war, it seems the worst has been
avoided. Donny George, the director-general of restoration at the Iraqi
Antiquities Department, Wednesday said his staff had preserved the museum's
most important treasures, including the kings' graves of Ur and the
Assyrian bulls. These objects were hidden in vaults that haven't been
violated by looters.

"Most of the things were removed. We knew a war was coming, so it was our
duty to protect everything," Mr. George said. "We thought there would be
some sort of bombing at the museum. We never thought it could be looted."

And why didn't America stop such looting as did take place? Lt. Col. Eric
Schwartz of the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division "said he couldn't move
into the museum compound and protect it from looters last week because his
soldiers were taking fire from the building--and were determined not to
respond."

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