Jordan Urges End to Flow of Iraq Treasures

[cjbuchanan]

AMMAN, Jordan - The looting of ancient Iraqi artifacts was the crime of the century, the chief of Jordanian Customs said in a speech Tuesday, and he called on countries neighboring Iraq (news - web sites) to do more to curb trafficking in thousands of missing treasures.

The curator of the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad estimated about 15,000 artifacts still were missing nearly 14 months after the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

In the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam in April 2003, looters rampaged through Iraqi museums and stores of ancient treasures.

Jordan, one of Iraq's six neighbors, has confiscated hundreds of Iraqi artifacts, carpets, paintings and books that have been stolen from Iraq's museums and archaeological sites.

more at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/jordan_iraqi_treasures

But I thought Rummy said that we were just seeing the same items stolen over and over. Was he not telling the truth?

[MisterP]

1. have they found any more priceless artifacts in CESSPOOLS again?!

[LisaM]

2. This is so enraging....

About 5 or 6 months ago, CBC (Canadian tv) did an hour long special on the looting of the Iraqi museum, in particular, showing how the cipher seals (small, valuable seals used by leaders to validate their correspondence) are in the black market all over Iraq and in neighboring countries such as Syria. These alone are worth several hundred to several thousand dollars each. The U.S. screwed up at first, made a quick fix for PR purposes, then abandoned the museum once again while the story drifted out of the news.

[damnraddem]

3. It's good that this is gettng some attention again.

The looting of treasures from sites and museums, and their destruction at the National Library as well as at the sites and museums, is a disgrace for the U.S. that will outlast anything else the U.S. has done -- it is a permanent loss to world culture.

[struggle4progress]

4. This is privatisation!

Liberating Iraq means liberating its oil and other treasures! It's a free-for-all five-finger discount for the in-crowd!