Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Evan Korth <korth () cs nyu edu>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2003 17:00:03 -0400 (EDT)
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

Another sad side to the war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/12/international/worldspecial/12CND-BAGH.html

Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12  The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of
civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia
more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in
sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took
only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000
artifacts carried away by looters.

The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum only came to light
today, after three days of frenzied looting that swept much of the
capital.

As fires in a dozen government ministries and agencies began to burn out,
and as some of the looters tired of pillaging in the 90-degree heat of the
Iraqi spring, museum officials reached the hotels where foreign
journalists were staying along the eastern bank of the Tigris River. They
brought word of what is likely to be reckoned as one of the greatest
cultural disasters in recent Middle Eastern history.

<snip>


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