And it turns out that it's not just the National Museum....

Now it's the National Library as well.  But hey, no doubt Kris Oswald will
claim that college students are constantly burning down libraries after a
sporting triumph.  So that's alright then.

The following story is from the BBC's website (dated 14 February)

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Prized Iraqi annals 'lost in blaze'

Almost all of the contents of Iraq's national library and archives are
reported to have been destroyed by fire, meaning the loss of priceless
records of the country's history.

The library, in central Baghdad, housed several rare volumes, including
entire royal court records and files from the period when Iraq was part of
the Ottoman Empire.

It is unclear who started the fires - though widespread looting has taken
place in the Iraqi capital, with the city's museum also ransacked and many
rare artefacts damaged, destroyed or stolen.

The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has pledged to recover and repair
the antiquities looted from the city museum, amid criticism from heritage
bodies that the damage should have been prevented.

A Western journalist - Robert Fisk of the Independent - reporting from the
site of the library told the BBC that the whole building had been gutted,
with handwritten documents from as far back as the 16th century - when Iraq
was part of the Ottoman Empire - strewn on the ground.

A nearby Islamic library has also gone in up in flames, he said, destroying
valuable literature including one of the oldest surviving copies of the
Koran.

Several Shia religious leaders have appealed to the local population to
return looted items, and say that some items had been returned and stashed
in mosques for safekeeping.

"We will return them when we will have a democratic government," Shia cleric
Sayyad Ali al-Shawki told the Associated Press news agency.

Mr Powell called the ravaged Baghdad museum "one of the great museums in the
world" and said the US would take a leading role in restoring it.

Leading experts on Iraqi heritage will gather for an emergency meeting on
Thursday to count the cost of the looting of the country's cultural sites.

Mr Powell said the US would secure the museum and would work with
organisations such as the European Union and the cultural arm of the United
Nations, Unesco, in restoring it.

The US would "recover that which has been taken and also participate in
restoring that which has been broken", he said.

But the loss and destruction already suffered has been described as "a
disaster" by Unesco.

The national museum was home to artefacts that dated back 10,000 years, from
one of the world's earliest civilisations.

The development of writing, abstract counting, the wheel and agriculture
were all charted in its exhibitions.

The collections from the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian periods were
particularly prized.

Despite Mr Powell's assurances, there are fears that many objects may have
been be lost forever.

After the 1991 Gulf War, 4,000 pieces disappeared when regional museums were
looted.

Donny George, archaeologist at the museum, said: "It was the leading
collection of a... continuous history of mankind.

"And it's gone, and it's lost. If marines had started before, none of this
would have happened.

"It's too late, it's no use, it's no use."

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Alasdair Brooks
Department of Archaeology
La Trobe University
Plenty Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Australia
Phone - 03 9479 3269
E-mail - [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The buffalo tastes the same
on both sides of the border"
Sitting Bull