The Iraq War & Archaeology Archive 12

The Iraq War & Archaeology
Reviewed Articles Archive Twelve: Second 1/2 of September 2003

This is the twelfth archive of the reviewed articles of The Iraq War & Archaeology web site.

Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D.

The articles and other information are listed chronologically, most recent first.

Archive Seventy-Five: May 2006
Archive Seventy-Four: 2nd 1/2 of April 2006
Archive Seventy-Three: 1st 1/2 of April 2006
Archive Seventy-Two: 2nd 1/2 of March 2006
Archive Seventy-One: 1st 1/2 of March 2006
Archive Seventy: 2nd 1/2 of February 2006
Archive Sixty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of February 2006
Archive Sixty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of January 2006
Archive Sixty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of January 2006
Archive Sixty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of December 2005
Archive Sixty-Five: 1st 1/2 of December 2005
Archive Sixty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of November 2005
Archive Sixty-Three: 1st 1/2 of November 2005
Archive Sixty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of October 2005
Archive Sixty-One: 1st 1/2 of October 2005
Archive Sixty: 2nd 1/2 of September 2005
Archive Fifty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of September 2005
Archive Fifty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of August 2005
Archive Fifty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of August 2005
Archive Fifty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of July 2005
Archive Fifty-Five: 1st 1/2 of July 2005
Archive Fifty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of June 2005
Archive Fifty-Three: 1st 1/2 of June 2005
Archive Fifty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of May 2005
Archive Fifty-One: 1st 1/2 of May 2005
Archive Fifty: 2nd 1/2 of April 2005
Archive Forty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of April 2005
Archive Forty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of March 2005
Archive Forty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of March 2005
Archive Forty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of February 2005
Archive Forty-Five: 1st 1/2 of February 2005
Archive Forty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of January 2005
Archive Forty-Three: 1st 1/2 of January 2005
Archive Forty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of December 2004
Archive Forty-One: 1st 1/2 of December 2004
Archive Forty: 2nd 1/2 of November 2004
Archive Thirty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of November 2004
Archive Thirty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of October 2004
Archive Thirty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of October 2004
Archive Thirty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of September 2004
Archive Thirty-Five: 1st 1/2 of September 2004
Archive Thirty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of August 2004
Archive Thirty-Three: 1st 1/2 of August 2004
Archive Thirty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of July 2004
Archive Thirty-One: 1st 1/2 of July 2004
Archive Thirty: 2nd 1/2 of June 2004
Archive Twenty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of June 2004
Archive Twenty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of May 2004
Archive Twenty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of May 2004
Archive Twenty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of April 2004
Archive Twenty-Five: 1st 1/2 of April 2004
Archive Twenty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of March 2004
Archive Twenty-Three: 1st 1/2 of March 2004
Archive Twenty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of February 2004
Archive Twenty-One: 1st 1/2 of February 2004
Archive Twenty: 2nd 1/2 of January 2004
Archive Nineteen: 1st 1/2 of January 2004
Archive Eighteen: 2nd 1/2 of December 2003
Archive Seventeen: 1st 1/2 of December 2003
Archive Sixteen: 2nd 1/2 of November 2003
Archive Fifteen: 1st 1/2 of November 2003
Archive Fourteen: 2nd 1/2 of October 2003
Archive Thirteen: 1st 1/2 of October 2003
Archive Twelve: 2nd 1/2 of September 2003
Archive Eleven: 1st 1/2 of September 2003
Archive Ten: 2nd 1/2 of August 2003
Archive Nine: 1st 1/2 of August 2003
Archive Eight: 2nd 1/2 of July 2003
Archive Seven: 1st 1/2 of July 2003
Archive Six: 2nd 1/2 of June 2003
Archive Five: 1st 1/2 of June 2003
Archive Four: 2nd 1/2 of May 2003
Archive Three: 1st 1/2 of May 2003
Archive Two: 2nd 1/2 of April 2003
Archive One: 1st 1/2 of April 2003
Archive Zero: through the 2nd 1/2 of March 2003

Almost all are accessible for free (or after a free registration) on the internet. Each time, I try to draw attention to the most relevant tidbits of information, esp. things that were not mentioned before; occasionally, I provide some comment. The usual warning applies: many links become defective with time. Inclusion in the list does not in any way mean that I necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in an article. But for a few exceptions, the occasional photos and figures accompanying reviewed articles are just hotlinked images on other web sites, in other words: do not download them or request permission to publish them from me, for I do not own the copyright to them in any way! Please do contact the rightful owners if you would like to use them for publication purposes. Finally, for the sake of convenience, all articles and so on are assumed to have been published on US web sites unless indicated otherwise.

J.R. Fuller, "Theft of Iraq's Art Treasures Continuing," in Chicago Sun-Times, September 30, 2003: "Four months since major combat ended in Iraq, the looting of irreplaceable artifacts still runs rampant, ... George, who was in town to preview the newly renovated Edgar and Deborah Jannotta Mesopotamian Gallery at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute."
W. Mullen, "Iraq Issues Plea to Protect Its Treasures," in Chicago Tribune, September 30, 2003: "'We had information that foreigners based in Saudi Arabia were directing these people where to go, how to dig and what to look for. We know there are certain groups with the workmen doing the digging, buying objects as they are dug up,' [Dr. Donny] George said."
"Op zoek naar gestolen kunst," in Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep, with online audio in English, September 29, 2003: nice interview with Dr. Selma el-Radi: about 10,000 artifacts stolen from the National Museum of which about 4,500 have been recovered

"Aggiunto il traguardo delle 400 ore di volo e delle 200 missioni operative dagli elicotteri HH3F del 6° ROA di Tallil," in Ministero della Difesa. Aeronautica militare (Italy), online, September 29, 2003:

Photo: [no caption besides what's included; ziggurat of Ur]

L. Hurst, "Iraq Museum Curator Recalls Looting Scenario. Says Insider May Have Aided Museum Thieves. Rage at Military Inaction Misunderstood, He Says," in Toronto Star (Canada), September 29, 2003: "On the harrowing day of George's return, some 170,000 artefacts were gone. But the number, it transpired, was a wild exaggeration. The figure likely was closer to 20,000, and George now says he was misunderstood. Berated later by fellow archeologists, he's been trying to clear up the confusion ever since. 'That was the number of pieces in the museum, not the number looted. I argued with journalists for saying I'd said that. But surely what was taken was bad enough.' In Toronto last week for two talks at the Royal Ontario Museum, ..." "George says between 700 and 800 items have been found by customs agents in the U.S. Another 500 were seized by police at an airport in France. And 700 have been located in Jordan and taken into safekeeping by its department of antiquities. In Amman, while waiting for a visa into Canada initially denied him [why?], George was able to check on their welfare and ensure their return." "About 14,000 items, however, are still missing [this is a higher figure again], 32 of them on the most-valuable list. Led by the British Museum, an international team of restoration experts will arrive in Baghdad next month to begin the task of repairing the damage. Once that work is under way, George and his colleagues will weigh the merits of an invitation to send an exhibition to the U.S." [it seems that the traveling exhibition is not so sure after all]
J. Simpson, "Why I Fear for the Safety of Iraq's Historic Monuments," in The Sunday Telegraph (UK), September 28, 2003: "Last week, the magnificent and still largely unexcavated ruins at Nimrud, near the Iraqi city of Mosul, were declared a world heritage site. [incorrect! it was Qal'at Sherqat (Ashur)] The next day the small detachment of American troops which had been guarding Nimrud from looters was withdrawn. Four thousand years of history and art now lie almost unprotected." "Nimrud lies in a difficult and dangerous area, just off the road linking Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's old heartland, with Mosul, which is nowadays divided between Arabs and Kurds and is very tense. The village near the site was distinctly threatening, and my team and I drove through it fast, ..." "An American was shaving in the rear mirror of one Humvee. More were sitting on folding chairs in the shade of the palace walls, watching a video about models in New York, while a vast inscription in ancient Assyrian above their heads instructed them to fear for their lives before the wrath of the mighty Ashurnasirpal. The men of the 101st Airborne Division paid no attention whatever. Now, anyway, they were happy: they'd be out of there in three days. The attacks on them at Nimrud had been increasing: rockets and high velocity weapons had been fired at them twice in the previous six days." "... the looters had chipped away the massive head of Ashurnasirpal from one of the major reliefs in the palace." "There were bulletholes in the metal door [of the museum storerooms], ... But the door had resisted the looters' efforts, and Mr [Taha Ahmed] Taha [one of the curators of Nimrud] and his watchmen arrived before they could break it down, and chased them off. ... Now the Americans will be replaced by another group of watchmen. They will know the looters personally and the looters will know them. 'They will be back,' said Mr Taha. 'They are only waiting for the Americans to go. Then they will take everything. And the watchmen will be too frightened to stop them.'" [significant parts of this article are inaccurate and sensationalistic, see Russell October 1 and October 18]
"World Monuments Fund Announces 2004 World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites," in Iraqcrisis, September 26, 2003: "Settled more than 8,000 years ago, Erbil Citadel is one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in the world. ... Decades of civil unrest, however, have taken their toll on the ancient citadel's outer wall and the buildings within it, ..." "Although in previous centuries Western museums mined the palaces at Nimrud and Nineveh for artworks, until recently many panels, figurines, and sculptures remained in situ, having been uncovered during excavations and left on site. However, twelve years of sanctions against Iraq dramatically limited the ability of the Iraqi Department of Antiquities to control looting, and sculptures from both sites appeared on the international art market. Further looting and vandalism followed the 2003 Iraq War. ... It is critical that the market for their sculptural decoration be reduced through publication of site inventories, and that their structures are stabilized and conserved."
"List Reveals Monuments at Risk," in The Guardian (UK), September 26, 2003: "... the palaces of Nimrud and Nineveh are on the watch list of 100 endangered sites released by the World Monuments Fund."
McG. Gibson, "Re: Allegation Made in the Press and Elsewhere Against Donny George," in Iraqcrisis, online, September 26, 2003: "... the
so-called "looting" of the Kuwait Museum in 1991. First of all, referring to this event as a "looting" is a grave misrepresentation of facts. In fact, Donny George and the other personnel of the Iraq Museum acted in complete accord with the Geneva, Hague, and UNESCO protocols for the protection of cultural property in time of war. I have written an account of the saving of the Kuwait Museum in my introduction to Gibson and McMahon, Lost Heritage: Antiquities Stolen from Iraq's Regional Museums. Fascicle 1, Chicago, 1992, p. vi. As I write there, the Iraqis informed UNESCO that the collection was in danger and that it was sending staff members to remove '...the collection to Baghdad for safekeeping. When the Iraq Museum staff members arrived in Kuwait, ... The objects were catalogued, photographed, carefully wrapped, boxed, put into crates, and then transported by truck to Baghdad. At the Iraq Museum, storage space was made available by moving hundreds of Iraqi artifacts to the Mosul, Hatra, and Kirkuk museums. ... Kuwait's representatives had arrived in Baghdad with a list of 2,500 objects. The Iraqis returned 25,000 items, including not just the famous Islamic collection, but also the records of the Museum and the artifacts and archaeological records of sites such as Failaka." "Equally untrue stories have been printed about the looting of the Iraq Museum, trying to implicate Donny George and the other officials ... The evidence of inside knowledge that allowed a group of looters to take about 4,800 cylinder seals could have been gotten from any of dozens of Museum employees, including very minor ones who had left the employ of the Museum years ago. The Bogdanos report ... essentially supports this conclusion--pointing out some inside knowledge, but not blaming the current administrators. In fact, since the looters completely missed the tablet collection, which was shifted from the same basement storeroom about four years ago, I think the inside knowledge was at least older than that date. The gang surely would have gone after the tablets. Tablets and seals are, after all, what the collectors want most." [a very good point indeed!]
"Saisie de pièces archéologiques volées en Irak," in La Libre Belgique (Belgium), September 26, 2003: arrest of 3 Lebanese citizens with 13 pieces of Mesopotamian pottery stolen from Iraq; the pots were smuggled into Lebanon via Syria
G. da Silva, "Chasing the Baghdad Loot," in Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep, with online audio, September 26, 2003: interview with Dr. Selma el-Radi: "'From 170,000 [total artifacts], somewhere around 10,000 [were looted], of which something like 4500 have come back.'" [strange, now el-Radi doesn't rectify the 170,000 vs. 501,000 error anymore either (inventory numbers vs. individual pieces); also, other sources lately state that about 10,000 are still missing and 3,000+ more have been recuperated]; "'I'm not one who says cultural monuments have to be saved at the expense of the people, no. You have to take care of the people. That to me is of prime importance. At the same time, this doesn't negate from the fact that you can also take care of the cultural monuments. You're not taking money away from the people by storing and taking care of your objects. So what is a people without its cultural heritage? It's absolutely important to save whatever you can, because that's for the future, that's for the next generations, they have to know.'"
"Najaf Taken Over," in The Warsaw Voice (Poland), September 25, 2003: "... Lemiesz will assume the post of expert for the protection of cultural heritage in the group of advisers attached to [multinational division commander in southern Iraq] Gen. Tyszkiewicz's staff." [see Krzemińska mid-April]
T. Potts, "Buried Between the Rivers," in The New York Review of Books, September 25, 2003: "The Italian carabinieri, who have taken over responsibility for the area of Nassyriah from the United States Marines, have recently begun some patrols at night, recovering two groups of looted artifacts."; introduction to Mesopotamian studies; review of the Metropolitan Museum exhibition "Art of the First Cities" catalog; "A tragic hero whose great achievements as king of Uruk still cannot bring him the one thing he truly wants—immortal life—Gilgamesh is a sympathetic and human foil to the Egyptian kings who revel so comfortably in their assured divinity. He has of course had an immortality of sorts in the legacy that this exhibition triumphantly proclaimed. We can only hope that the violence still being inflicted on it in the mounds of Iraq will soon be brought to an end."

A. Badkhen, "Iraq's Treasured Lady of Warka Returns Home. 5,200-Year-Old Mask Looted in April From Museum Turns Up in Farmer's Yard," in San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 2003: "Hassan, a Baghdad jewelry store owner who did not give his real name, is part of the estimated $3 billion-a-year business of illegal antiquities worldwide. He says he has purchased antiquities -- Sumerian clay pottery and figurines, Assyrian plates -- from looters and then sold them to smugglers, who, in turn, took the precious artifacts out of Iraq. 'I pay looters very little, because they don't know what these things are worth,' Hassan said. 'I would pay $50 apiece, then sell them to dealers for $5,000. You can make a very good living selling these things.' Selling the Lady of Warka would have been much more complicated, Hassan said. 'Something like this is so famous we must not touch it -- it's too hot to handle,' he said. 'Whoever wanted to sell it abroad must have been very stupid.' Under Saddam Hussein's iron rule, smuggling was a crime punishable by hanging. Today, even the police don't know what kind of penalty a smuggler would get, said [Col. Walid] Misil [a Baghdad police spokesman] ... Hassan said friends who were detained for smuggling after the war got away after paying a bribe of $400 to $500 to the police. He said American soldiers were among the people who brought him antiquities that had Baghdad museum identification numbers written on them. 'They brought some Sumerian figurines and some plates. I paid them $4,000,' he said. 'I don't know where the Americans got them.' American occupation authority officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment about allegations that U.S. soldiers were involved in smuggling." [very similar to Filipov; I'm sure we'll here more about this accusation of US soldiers selling Museum artifacts for profit]

Photo 1: "Artifacts from a collection reaching back to the origins of civilization clutter the halls of Baghdad's Iraqi National Museum. Photo by Thorne Anderson, special to the Chronicle"

Photo 2: "Iraqi Minister of Culture Mufeed Muhammad Jawad Al Jazairee holds the 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia' or the Lady of Warka, which is again on display after being looted from the Iraqi National Museum. Associated Press photo by Samir Mezban"

Photo 3: "Ahmed Kamil. Photo by Thorne Anderson, special to the Chronicle" [museum staffer; see Filipov]

L. Hunt, "'Mona Lisa' Back to Iraq's National Museam [sic]. Prized 5,000-Year-Old Warka Mask Returns Home in Excellent Condition After Being Looted After Saddam's Fall," in Middle East Online (UK), September 24, 2003: "Fifteen cylindrical stamps for wax seals dating to the second and third centuries have also been recovered."

Photo: "It is also known as the 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia'"

G. Wilkinson, "Hunt for Stolen Iraqi Artefacts Continues," in PM (ABC)(Australia), with online audio, September 24, 2003: "While it was smiles all around at the [Lady of Warka] hand over ceremony, relations between museum staff and US miliary investigators have been strained. Jabra Ibrahim, Director General of Antiquities, is still angry that more wasn't done to protect the museum from looters and art thieves." "The Chief US Investigator, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, ... His report to the US Department of Defence also said that while looters did steal many items, insiders must have been involved in some of the most serious theft. ... But Dr Jabra says so far there’s no evidence that it was an inside job." "But Dr Jabra says apart from Jordan, countries neighbouring Iraq are not doing enough to stop valuable antiquities being spirited across borders." "As the hunt for stolen items continues, those that are returned are carefully locked away. Officials, still nervous about poor security in Baghdad, say its too soon to think about putting them back on show."
D. Filipov, "'Sumerian Mona Lisa' Returned to National Museum," in The Boston Globe, September 24, 2003: "Museum officials and American investigators estimate that more than 10,000 artifacts remain missing, though a worldwide recovery effort has turned up 3,500 pieces." "[Ahmed] Kamil [a specialist on cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia] said many pieces, including 5,000 small stone cylindrical seals used by the Sumerians to engrave tablets, have already been sold to eager collectors and are probably lost forever. One Iraqi art smuggler agreed, saying much of his business in recent months has been the purchase and resale of the seals and clay pottery dating from Sumerian times brought to him by looters and others who happened on the museum items by chance. 'Very few big pieces were smuggled out, but very many small pieces have already been smuggled out of Iraq,' said the smuggler, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'You can make a very good living selling these things.' The smuggler said he typically purchases stolen rarities for a pittance -- as little as $50 -- because many of the looters have no idea of the significance of their find. He then resells them to buyers from outside Iraq for up to $10,000 per item. It is a dangerous business, but easy compared with smuggling under the Hussein regime, when borders were closed and the punishment was death by hanging. Anyone caught these days can get off with a $400 bribe, the smuggler said. He said that among his customers were American soldiers, who brought him high-quality Sumerian figurines bearing catalog numbers from the Iraqi National Museum, which he bought for $4,000 and sold for $5,000 to 'people who took them out of Iraq.' 'We don't know where the Americans got them,' the smuggler said. 'They came back, maybe 25 times.'" [disturbing news if true; this needs further investigation to say the least]; "A coalition spokesman said he had no information about US soldiers selling looted art. However, in April, US customs officials confiscated 15 paintings, gold-plated guns and knives, statuettes, and assorted jewelry from returning soldiers and other Americans coming from Iraq." "Kamil displayed a limestone Babylonian lion that looters decapitated, apparently hoping to find something valuable inside."

J. Parsons, "Coalition Forces, Iraqi Police Recover Ancient Warka Mask," in Defend America, online, September 23, 2003

Photo 1: "Col. Safa Adeen Mahdi Salih, Iraqi Police, holds the Marble sculpture Warka Mask which dates from circa 3100 B.C. on Sept 23 The Warka Mask was missing from the Iraqi Museum since the liberation of Iraq. The Al Qanot Police station of the Iraqi Police service and the 812th Military Police Company of the 519th Military Police Battalion of the 18th Military Police brigade worked together in a joint investigation in the recovery of the Warka Mask. U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. James M. Bowman"

Photo 2: "Dr. Jabir Khalil Ibrahim, State Board of Antiquities and Col. Safa Adeen Mahdi Salih, Iraqi Police, holds the Marble sculpture Warka Mask which dates from circa 3100 B.C. on Sept 23 The Warka Mask was missing from the Iraqi Museum since the liberation of Iraq. The Al Qanot Police station of the Iraqi Police service and the 812th Military Police Company of the 519th Military Police Battalion of the 18th Military Police brigade worked together in a joint investigation in the recovery of the Warka Mask. U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. James M. Bowman"

"Priceless Iraqi Artefact Returned," in BBC (UK), September 23, 2003 Photo: "The Warka Mask is also known as the Sumerian Mona Lisa"
"Ancient Mask Recovered in Iraq," in CNN, September 23, 2003 Photo: "The Warka Mask has returned to the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad."

B. Williams, "Iraq's Sumerian Mona Lisa Found in Shallow Grave," in Yahoo India News, September 23, 2003: "'She's a little dirtier -- who wouldn't be after what she's been through -- but otherwise in excellent condition,' said Captain Vance Kohner, a reservist whose full time job is as a prosecutor from Queens in New York. Kohner and fellow New York policeman-turned-Iraq investigator Sergeant Emanuel Gonzalez spent months tracing the vanished lady through Baghdad's maze of streets and warrens." "... on September 9 ... a teenager walked into a local police station saying he knew someone who had information about the mask's whereabouts. 'The juvenile led us to an older man who then passed us on to a man who had the Mona Lisa buried in his backyard adjoining a farm,' Koehner told a news conference at Baghdad Museum where the mask again went on display." [actually, the Museum isn't open to the public yet]; "There have been no prosecutions in the case and authorities believe the suspects in the trail that led to the sculpture's recovery were just go-betweens for the actual robbers."

Photo: "The 5,000 year old 'Sumerian Mona Lisa' or the Lady of Warka, looted from Baghdad Museum at the height of the Iraq war last April, goes on display again at the museum September 23, 2003. The priceless antique was found buried in a Baghdad backyard on September 16 by a joint U.S.-Iraq investigation team. REUTERS/Aladin Abdel Naby"

R. Fisk, "A Poignant Iraqi Tragedy," in The Independent (UK), September 22, 2003: "Pietro Cardone [sic] is an elegant, discreet man, an Italian diplomat who hates polemics and who pleaded with me that his story should speak for itself." "[His interpreter] Saad Mohamed Sultan was 36 and had two children, aged three and five." "... last Friday. [Ambassador Cordone] had set out for archaeological sites in north Iraq with a project that would provide guards and police to protect the ancient cities. 'I was driving in a Land Cruiser with a second car behind,' he says. 'Saad and my driver were in the front of my car, my wife and I in the back. At 1.45pm we approached two American Humvees, both driving in the same direction as us.' ... 'Our driver started to overtake the first Humvee. The young soldier at the back made a gesture as if to say, 'Don't overtake, go back'. Perhaps our driver was slow and this created a suspicion in the soldier. We were five metres from him - which was a bit close. The American soldier fired one shot from his machine-gun. That shot came through the car and hit Saad in the heart and came out of the back of the poor guy and scratched my arm and exited through the roof of the car.' Then the Americans drove on. They didn't stop, Mr Cardone [sic] says. ... He was a very young soldier who killed Saad. I guess he was 19 or 20. I was keeping Saad's head upright but there was a lot of blood. He was making noises, saying 'Ugh! Ugh!' But when we reached the hospital, the doctor examined him and just said, 'There is nothing to be done'. The bullet had broken his heart.' ...
McG. Gibson, "The Theft of Ancient Cities," in Newsday (New York), September 21, 2003: "In the last few months, sleepy farming towns like Fejur, Rifai and Afak near the ancient cities have come to life as markets for the illegal antiquities trade. Sellers are hoping that some foreigner, such as a journalist, soldier or contractor, will pay them more than the agents sent by dealers, who give them only a few dollars per item." "It is easy to dismiss the damage to Iraq's cultural heritage as an unfortunate by-product of war. ... But most of the looting in Iraq has taken place after major hostilities had ceased. ... But the museum losses are fast being eclipsed by the number of items being ripped out of their original archaeological context in great sites such as Nippur, Isin, Shuruppak, Adab, Umma and Larsa, all in the south of Iraq." "... so many people have been to a museum and been fascinated by some ancient culture or another. But few have visited an ancient site; and in Iraq, even the most important ancient cities appear to be just big hills with remnants of adobe walls in pits dug by the archaeologists. Left undisturbed, these sites could have been excavated scientifically for hundreds of years, providing information on the birth and development of both eastern and western cultural tradition, answering research questions that scholars do not yet know how to ask. Such long-term research would employ generations of Iraqis and attract generations of tourists. Compared to these benefits, the short-term gain that the diggers realize is minuscule." [hear, hear!]; "Thus far, another key site, Uruk, has not been robbed because the local tribe is guarding it. I hoped that we had secured Nippur in similar fashion by visiting it on May 16. The local tribal chief assured me that his tribe would back up the site guards. That day, there were four new holes, the first illegal digging in more than a century. But by the end of June, UNESCO had recorded more than 100 fresh holes." "The ancient city of Kish, near Babylon, is guarded [by US military], but only because its two temple towers happen to be good places for guard stations."
R. Fisk, "Americans Draw a Veil of Secrecy as Casualties Grow. No Comment From the Authorities While More and More US Servicemen and Their Families Are Demanding Answers From George Bush," in The Independent (UK), September 20, 2003: "Although an inquiry was promised into the shooting of the Iraqi interpreter, details of the incident suggest that US troops now have carte blanche to open fire at Iraqi civilian cars on the mere suspicion that their occupants may be hostile. Pietro Cordone, the Italian diplomat, was travelling to Mosul with his wife, Mirella, when their car approached an American convoy. According to Mr Cordone, a soldier manning a machine gun in the rear vehicle of the convoy appeared to signal to Mr Cordone's driver that he should not attempt to overtake. The driver did not do so but the soldier then fired a single shot at the car, which hit the interpreter who was in the front passenger seat. The incident was only reported because Mr Cordone happened to be in the car."

"«Fuoco amico» contro diplomatico italiano," in Panorama (Italy), September 19, 2003: "fuoco amico" = friendly fire Photo: "L'ambasciatore italiano in Iraq, Pietro Cordone" [the Italian ambassador in Iraq, Pietro Cordone]
"Iraq: Fuoco USA sull'ambasciatore italiano Pietro Cordone," in ANSA.it (Italy), September 19, 2003 Photo: [Mr. Cordone]

A. Rizzo, "U.S. Troops Mistakenly Target Italy Envoy," in The Kansas City Star, September 19, 2003: "Cordone, interviewed on Italian state television, said it appeared an American soldier fired at the car because the vehicle didn't get back into its lane fast enough after trying to pass a column of American vehicles near the turnoff for Tikrit. The diplomat, who was seated in the back of the car with his wife, said the soldier motioned that the car should get back into the lane, then fired one shot. 'Perhaps there was a few seconds of lateness in carrying out the maneuver' to get back into the lane, Cordone said. 'Surely there was a mistaken interpretation of some movement by my car, even though, I repeat, we were on a highway in which American military police cars and my car were traveling normally, following the flow of traffic,' Cordone said. 'The shot went through the interpreter's heart, went out his back and grazed me on my arm,' the diplomat told reporters, looking dazed a few hours after the shooting. 'We didn't violate any checkpoint.' Cordone expressed hope that U.S. authorities would give compensation to the interpreter's family, including a wife and two children."
F. Curruthers, "Iraq Museum Resembled 'Emergency Ward,'" in The University of Sydney (Australia), online, September 19, 2003: "... Professor Dan Potts arrived in Baghdad on 16 May to help with the painful process of cataloguing the losses of the looted Iraq Museum (IM)." "Everybody was traumatised. The place had not been cleaned up much. Employees reporting back to work didn't even have a chair to sit on. No-one could concentrate on work.'" "Returned in a wheelbarrow [sic] during an amnesty in July, the 'Warka vase' ..."
"American Troops in Iraq Fire on Italian Diplomat's Car," in China View (China), online, September 19, 2003: "Piero Cordone [there's confusion about Mr. Cordone's first name: even official sources use both "Pietro" and "Piero"; they are of course only variants of the same "Peter" anyway], an Italian diplomat and member of the provisional US-led administration in Iraq, escaped unhurt after American troops reportedly opened fire on his car near a military roadblock, Italian Foreign Ministry sources confirmed on Friday." "He is already nearing the end of his mandate in the provisional authority, with another Italian art expert, Mario Bondioli Osio, expected to replace him at the beginning of October."

"US Troops Kill Aide of Italian Official in Northern Iraq," in Al Bawaba (Jordan), online, September 19, 2003

Photo: "Cordone"

"U.S. Troops Fire at Italian Diplomat's Car in Iraq," in The New York Times, September 19, 2003: "The U.S. military sources said Cordone's car was shot at after it repeatedly tried to overtake a U.S. convoy near Tikrit, Saddam's hometown. Soldiers repeatedly warned the car not to overtake, the sources said, and opened fire when they thought the vehicle was trying to ram them. Many Iraqis accuse U.S. troops of being too quick to open fire and failing to follow rules of engagement."
V.P.B., "Iraakse kunst in tuin opgegraven," in De Standaard (Belgium), September 19, 2003: the "Lady of Warka" sculpture was found buried in the ground in the town of Khalis, 40 km from Baghdad
A. Rizzo, "GIs Mistakenly Kill Italian Envoy Aide," in Yahoo! News, September 19, 2003: "... the Italian official heading up U.S. efforts to recover Iraq's looted antiquities, ... Pietro Cordone, was unhurt. ... [He] was traveling between Mosul and Tikrit on Thursday when his car was fired on at a U.S. roadblock, said a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said American troops fired at the car, and that Cordone's Iraqi interpreter was killed. The official said it appeared the car's driver did not understand signals from the American troops, and that the Americans didn't understand what the car was trying to do." [what can I say... things are really screwed up]
S.N. Yacoub, "Valuable Stolen Relic Recovered in Iraq," in The Island Packet (South Carolina), September 18, 2003: "[Jabir] Ibrahim [head of Iraq's Antiquities Department] said his department received information in mid-August about a group of people trying to sell the Lady of Warka. The negotiations collapsed for unknown reasons, ..." "'The Lady of Warka was one of the most important antiquities stolen when looters broke into the Iraqi Museum." "The museum, still closed, is now guarded by the Iraqi police forces that work under the supervision of the U.S. military."
E.A. Torriero, "5,500-Year-Old Mask Lost in Iraq Looting Is Recovered," in Chicago Tribune, September 18, 2003: "'We found the lady's face!' Iraqi police Capt. Hazim Salih recalled shouting as he pulled the Warka Mask, also known as the Lady of Warka, from a farmer's field early Tuesday morning, where it had been buried 6 feet deep. The life-sized face was wrapped in two dirty pieces of cloth and stuffed into a plastic bag, said Salih, who led a weeklong investigation that culminated in the discovery of the priceless mask. 'We hugged it and held it close,' he said. 'There was not a scratch on it.'" "Museum officials confirmed the authenticity of the artwork ..." "The mask was in the hands of the U.S. military Wednesday, Ibrahim and Iraqi police said, and will be displayed at a public ceremony at the museum in coming days." "To archeologists, the face is the 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia.' Its carefully inlaid eyebrows, sternly glazed eyes and ruffled forehead were the standard of realism unmatched for centuries." "During an afternoon raid, police uncovered two ancient swords and later determined they had been looted from an Iraqi museum. They arrested the shop owner, who informed on others, Iraqi officials said. During a roundup of suspects, one of the accused told police that a farmer outside Baghdad was in possession of an old mask. After consulting with U.S. military police, the Iraqis raided two farmhouses before dawn Tuesday but found nothing. But after detaining the farm owner for several hours, he admitted to having buried a sculpture of a masked woman on his land, police said."
E. Stone, "UPDATES: On the Recovery of the Warka Lady," in Iraqcrisis, online, September 17, 2003: "I was just phoned by a Chicago Tribune reporter ... Apparently there is a small group of Iraqi police at a small post in the north of Baghdad who got a lead on the sword of Nur-Ali and of Salahadin, which had been stolen from a museum other than the Iraq Museum. They got them back and interviewed the people who had them. They then told the police about a farm just to the north of town which was supposed to have some stolen antiquities. The police went to the farm and found nothing there but took the farmers back to the police station. After four hours of interrogation they got the information that they needed and went back to the farm. They found the Warka Lady wrapped in two pieces of cloth and a plastic bag buried under some loose soil. The owner of the farm claimed that the head had been given to him last week by someone who owned him money. The sense is that it has been bouncing around Baghdad all summer, being basically too hot to handle. I was also told that they also have found a bunch of cylinder seals--but I'm not sure if this is connected."

[B. Lecumberri], "Iraq Recovers Priceless 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia' Looted from Museum," in Yahoo! News, online, September 17, 2003: "Mufic al-Jazaeri made his public debut with a mystery. Speaking of the 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia,' Jazaeri said: 'I do not have any details on where it was found, but it appears as if it never left Iraq during all this time.' ... Yet there are many more artefacts still to be recovered. Jaaber Jelil Ibrahim, Iraq's director general of antiquities, recently told AFP that around 13,000 pieces are still to be found, 32 of them of great value. Overall, 15,000 pieces were stolen from the collection of 170,000 artefacts." [actually 501,000; missing numbers seem a little dated]

Photo: "Wed Sep 17, 3:33 PM ET - Iraqi Minister of Culture Mufid al-Jazaeri displays an illustration of the newly recovered 'Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia' in Baghdad (AFP/Thomas Coex)"

S. Fidler, "Suspects Held Over Iraq Museum Looting," in Financial Times (UK), September 17, 2003: "Several people suspected of handling antiquities looted from Iraq during the war have been arrested in London, police said yesterday. An official said police were working with Iraqi and US authorities but further disclosures could jeopardise the operation."
"Iraqi Museum Recovers 'Sumerian Mona Lisa,'" in Yahoo India News, September 17, 2003: "'During the past two days, we were able to recover the second most valuable item of the Iraqi Museum, that is the face of the Lady of Warka, which is known as the Sumerian Mona Lisa,' [Iraq's new culture minister] Mofeed al-Jazairi told a news conference. 'The item, which is one of the great relics of Warka, will be handed to the museum in the coming few days,' Jazairi said. Jazairi did not reveal exactly how the sculpture was recovered, but he said Iraqi police and U.S. military police had played a part."
R. Russell, "Painful Recovery at Baghdad's War-Scarred Museum," in Reuters AlertNet, September 17, 2003: "The delicately carved [Warka V]ase from the Sumerian kingdom of Mesopotamia [sic] lies in 14 pieces in a hot, airless storeroom in the Iraqi National Museum, ..." [not 15 but 14 pieces? maybe she didn't count the base which remained attached to the pedestal left behind in the Museum]; "Five months on, the battered museum is emblematic of postwar Iraq. Walking through dark, deserted galleries and up marble staircases smashed by looters, the task of restoring its once glorious international reputation looks daunting." "No date has been set for the reopening of galleries displaying artefacts from Sumer, Akkad and Babylon ... The rooms are locked, their display cabinets empty, gathering dust." "Many are now in a ground floor storage room guarded by an elderly man who smokes cigarettes by the door. ... On one table there are dozens of pottery fragments, on another ivory carvings, clay tablets of ancient cuneiform text and one of the missing bronze bulls. In a small cardboard box sits a delicate gold leaf which once hung from the crown of a Sumerian princess. Museum curators, still nervous about poor security in Baghdad, say it is too soon to think about putting them back on show." "A stone statue of King Shalmanezzer III, a warrior king from the ninth century BC, was grabbed from the museum but later returned, in six pieces. It has been repaired and is back on its stand. 'We hope to open the Assyrian gallery next month,' said Dr Ibrahim Jaber, the head of the museum."
"John M. Russell Appointed Deputy Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture," in Archaeological Institute of America, online, [September 16, 2003]: "On September 20, AIA member John M. Russell (Massachusetts College of Art) will go to Iraq to work with the Coalition Provisional Authority as Deputy Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture. His main objective is to connect colleagues and cultural institutions in Iraq with outside funding sources, opportunities, and expertise for projects relating to reconstruction, study abroad, and training. He also hopes to assist with a number of other issues, including efforts to control looting of archaeological sites, monitoring the archaeological impact of construction projects, facilitating infrastructure upgrades in the Iraq Museum and other cultural institutions, and working to recover antiquities stolen from the Museum."

A. the Hobotraveler.com, "Center (5)," in HoboTraveler.com Travel Tips Newsletter And Updates on Around The World Trip, online, 124 (September 16, 2003): direct-to-internet blog of a low-budget world traveler showed many photos of 2003 Iraq

Photo: "General Admission Ticket to Babylon Museum. Ministry of Culture, State Board ot Antiquities & Heritage Al Hilla, Iraq"

A. the Hobotraveler.com, "Entering Babylon (3)," in HoboTraveler.com Travel Tips Newsletter And Updates on Around The World Trip, online, 124 (September 16, 2003): direct-to-internet blog of a low-budget world traveler showed many photos of 2003 Iraq

Photo 1: "Sign at admission entrance" [Babylon Museum]

Photo 2: "Animal on wall" [Babylon; Ishtar Gate with brick relief: mushushu dragon creature, symbol of Marduk, city god of Babylon]

Photo 3: [no caption; also Ishtar Gate]

A. the Hobotraveler.com, "Entering Babylon (2)," in HoboTraveler.com Travel Tips Newsletter And Updates on Around The World Trip, online, 124 (September 16, 2003): direct-to-internet blog of a low-budget world traveler showed many photos of 2003 Iraq

Photo 1: "I think Hungary Soldiers" [Babylon; isn't that a Polish flag on the door? notice the reconstructed theater in the background again]

Photo 2: [no caption; reconstructed theater in Babylon]

This site is edited by Belgian archaeologist Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D., living in Streamwood, Illinois (USA), who is affiliated with Archaeos, Inc., and a research associate of the University of Vienna (Austria).