Our heritage is finished ...

[Preecha]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15136-2003Apr12.html


The most interesting quote of the war imo:

"Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries -- including trade, information, planning, health and education -- remain unprotected.

Why just the oil ministry?" Jaf asked. "Is it because they just want our oil?"

[jlines]

Originally posted by Preecha
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15136-2003Apr12.html


The most interesting quote of the war imo:

"Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries -- including trade, information, planning, health and education -- remain unprotected.

Why just the oil ministry?" Jaf asked. "Is it because they just want our oil?"

Im sure we have an economic interest in Iraq, but another side of the argument would be that the oil ministry would definatly be more of a target for attack by the remaining baath forces than say, the education ministry.

imo

[Preecha]

But the level of importance in the US eyes is the key factor. Not what they think the key targets are. I would say every place that the Iraqi government had a hold on, with goods, is a target. Which is basically the truth as gov buildings were hit. I think keeping those artifacts safe would have been a better choice then some oil wells we will be getting anyways...

[f3/\r teh Phorced Access]

I was about to post the same article.
On another front.

Russia provided Saddam’s regime with assistance in the months before the war, including secret intelligence on private conversations between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Western leaders, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported Sunday. The paper, citing documents obtained from the bombed-out headquarters of Iraq’s military intelligence service in Baghdad, also said that Moscow gave Saddam lists of “assassins” available for use in the West and details of weapons deals to neighboring countries.

[cpud]

If the Iraqi's want to destroy their own heritage, let them... it's not our fault they can't seperate art/history from Saddam's regime.

[theory]

this is our history

This is a loss to our history as Baghdad lies within the cradle of civilization. Officials of the military government should of made it a top priority to protect places such as this one because of its importance to generations to come but now lies in ruins never to be seen again unless you find yourself at a paris art auction. I hope to see someone held accountable because if we can secure thousands of oil fields, I'm sure we could protect a building from looters.

[Preecha]

Originally posted by cpud
If the Iraqi's want to destroy their own heritage, let them... it's not our fault they can't seperate art/history from Saddam's regime.

This is a small percentage of dubass people who are doing the looting, I would image. We could hardly blame "the Iraqi people" for things done by them.

[cpud]

Originally posted by Preecha
This is a small percentage of dubass people who are doing the looting, I would image. We could hardly blame "the Iraqi people" for things done by them.

i was referring to those same dumbasses.

[jlines]

Originally posted by Preecha
This is a small percentage of dubass people who are doing the looting, I would image. We could hardly blame "the Iraqi people" for things done by them.


i doubt it is a small percentage of 'dumbass' people, I would imagine it is a large portion of the populace. Iraq is not like our country, most of the population has been oppressed for decades, this is the first freedom they have had in their lives. Its not surprising many of them dont know how to handle it.

[Preecha]

I would garner its less then 20%, if that much. Freedom from a dictatorship doesn't = "lets go loot!!" That was verified by all the people that were protesting the looting on TV.

[Preecha]

Originally posted by cpud
i was referring to those same dumbasses.


Why should we let this small portion of the people loot the rest of the country? That doesn't make sense????

[Preecha]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030417/pl_nm/iraq_antiquities_dc_2

[Consumer]

shit's fucked.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20030415/capt.sge.asm08.150403201803.photo02.default-390x261.jpg

[theory]

Experts: Iraqi looters were organized
By JOCELYN GECKER
Associated Press

PARIS - Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities appeared highly organized and even had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting.

One expert said he suspected the looting was organized outside the country.

The U.N. cultural agency gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.

Although much of the looting was haphazard, experts said some of the thieves clearly knew what they were looking for and where to find it, suggesting they were prepared professionals.

"It looks as if part of the looting was a deliberate planned action," said McGuire Gibson, a University of Chicago professor and president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. "They were able to obtain keys from somewhere for the vaults and were able to take out the very important, the very best material."

"I have a suspicion it was organized outside the country, in fact I'm pretty sure it was," Gibson said. He added that if a good police team was put together, "I think it could be cracked in no time."

Gibson added that he'd received as yet unverified information that objects had already shown up in Paris, Iran and "other parts of Europe."

Cultural experts, curators and law enforcement officials are scrambling to both track down the missing antiquities and prevent further looting of the valuables.

The pillaging has ravaged the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections that chronicled ancient civilization in Mesopotamia, and the losses have triggered an impassioned outcry in cultural circles.

Many fear the stolen artifacts have been absorbed into highly organized trafficking rings that ferry the goods through a series of middlemen to collectors in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Officials at the UNESCO meeting at its headquarters in Paris said the information was still too sketchy to determine exactly what was missing and how many items were unaccounted for.

The experts, which included Iraqi art officials, said some of the most valuable pieces had been placed in the vault of the national bank after the 1991 Gulf War, but they had no information on whether the items were still there.

At U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, officials said they weren't aware of the reports of organized looting and couldn't comment.

"I have no knowledge of what looters used to get access to the museums, but it was a terrible loss to all of humanity, and we are working with the Iraqi people to find those responsible," said a spokesman, Navy Lt. Herb Josey.

Koichiro Matsuura, director-general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, began the meeting Thursday by calling for a U.N. resolution imposing a temporary embargo on trade in Iraqi antiquities.

Matsuura said it was urgent to repair the antiquities that remain and to keep them from the hands of those who traffic in the lucrative market of stolen objects.

"It is always difficult, when communities are facing the consequences of an armed conflict ... to plead the case for preservation of the cultural heritage," Matsuura said.

Matsuura said he would ask U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek a resolution against illicit trafficking that would also impose an embargo "for a limited period" on the acquisition of Iraqi cultural objects. Such a resolution would also call for the return of such items to Iraq, he said.

In addition, Matsuura said the establishment of a nationwide "heritage police" was necessary to watch over cultural sites and institutions. Such a force could be set up by "the authorities on the ground," an apparent reference to U.S. and British forces in Baghdad.

"To preserve the Iraqi cultural heritage is, in a word, to enable Iraq to successfully make its transition to a new, free and prosperous society," he said.

He reiterated a call for governments to adopt emergency legal and administrative measures to prevent anyone's importing objects from Iraq and to museums and art dealers to refuse transactions in such objects.

A database of all cultural objects needs to be quickly established so police, museums, customs authorities can act against any traffickers, he said.
.

[Preecha]

:blkninja

[cpud]

sounds like a James Bond type heist :eek

[shabda]

why is it I am labeled a fucking paranoid schitzophrenic for saying all of this years ago? Where the fuck have you all been living? Under a fucking rock? Look at my signature... Bush throwin the sign of the devil... oh and look on the dollarbill... how about that? To think I have been so ridiculed for saying all I have said...
:devil