• 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.

• M. Jansen, "Not All Iraqi News Is Bad," in The Jordan Times (Jordan), January 15, 2004: "Dr Donny George, ... told this correspondent that the 'negative publicity' over the looting of the Iraq Museum in early April — while US troops watched from the safety of their tanks parked in the street in front of the building — has had a 'positive effect'. ... While I was talking with George and Dr Lamia Gailani, a London-based Iraqi archaeologist who is working for the post-war Reconstruction and Development Council to assist with the rehabilitation of the museum, a large box of cameras and other equipment supplied by the US State Department was delivered by Dr John Russell of the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, also an associate director of a major archaeological site in Iraq." [?] "George is 'very optimistic' about the future of the museum. On his computer screen he showed me photographs of some of the 94 Mesopotamian clay tablets seized by Italy a few days before our meeting. He said that the tablets, including letters and contracts imprinted with seals, may have been stolen from a site in the south known as 'Abu Antiq' ('Father of Antiquities'). In the four months since my last visit to the museum, new computers, telephone sets, faxes and photocopiers have been provided by the occupation regime and essential repairs have been done." "... the Italian Carabinieri's Art Squad has been logging missing items into a data base in Rome which provides information on these pieces to Interpol, museums and 'legitimate' antiquities dealers ... The Oriental Institute in Chicago has set up a second data base. George said that most of the museum's unique pieces have been restored. These are a 3,500-year-old Sumerian vase and a bust of a woman from the same period, a copper votive statue of a youth, and an Assyrian brazier. Six hundred cylinder seals have also been recovered. He estimated that '4,000 items have been returned, more than 1,000 by Iraqis and 820 by Italy'. Of the 14,000 items not yet back in the museum, 1,000 have been confiscated in the US, 500 in Paris, 250 in Switzerland and a few hundred in Jordan. 'Once all these come back 7-8,000 will be missing." "While US Military Police are cooperating with a special unit in the Iraqi police to find stolen artefacts still in Iraq, the Bush administration is not doing enough to prevent pillage. Protection for sites and digs in the Nassiriya province in the south is being provided by the Carabinieri, in cooperation with the Iraqi police. George said this will become more effective once vehicles are deployed and communications equipment is installed, in the near future. The system of site protection will gradually be expanded to take in hundreds of sites all over the country. Thanks to the international hullabaloo over the looting last April, Iraqi antiquities are difficult to sell on the international stolen art and antiquities market. George was upbeat about the museum's future because he now has enough money to enlarge its premises, install new lighting and environmental control equipment, buy showcases, renovate and extend its store rooms, and purchase books to keep up with developments in the field. He believes that the 'new', modernised Iraq Museum will reopen in 18 months to two years." "The museum is good news because there is minimal interference by the occupation regime in its affairs and no input from the neoconservative clique at the heart of the Bush administration. The museum is being run by competent Iraqis bolstered by the efforts of experts in the field of museum work and of committed archaeologists. This is as it should be."
• "Internationally Recognized Archaeologist to Speak at UA," in University of Akron (Ohio), online, January 14, 2004: "Helen McDonald, research associate at the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, England, ... At the invitation of the Coalition Provisional Authority ..., she returned to Iraq in June 2003 to assist the interim Ministry of Culture in the assessment of on-going damage to ancient sites in Iraq and the efforts of the U.S.-led forces to stop widespread looting of antiquities."

M. Gayford, "Gold Fever. How Modern-Day Tyrants and Looters Were Kept From Two of the Greatest Treasures of the Ancient World. Martin Gayford Follows the Trail of the Hidden Gold of Iraq and Afghanistan," in The Age (Australia), January 14, 2003: "Less attention has been given to the unexpected reappearance a few months ago of two fabulous hoards of ancient golden objects with oddly similar histories. Both have been compared with the objects found in the tomb of Tutankhamen; neither has ever been seen, except very briefly." "'Very little Assyrian gold work has been discovered at all,' explains Dominique Collon, a specialist in the subject at the British Museum. 'It was all carted away and melted down in antiquity,' Collon says. 'So, previously, the only evidence we had for Assyrian jewellery was representations on reliefs." "... the gold vanished from view into the most secure vault of the Iraqi Central Bank, which was then flooded with sewage." "'I think they were rather afraid that Saddam Hussein would get his hands on it and turn it into gold taps for his bathroom,' says Collon." "This so-called Bactrian gold is even more dazzling than the Nimrud hoard. It is made up of the burial riches of Kushan tribes from the area known in ancient times as Bactria, which were buried around the 1st century AD. And, like much of the now tragically depleted Afghan heritage, they show evidence of a unique cultural fusion." "But when will these astonishing objects next be seen, and where? That, too, is highly controversial. In neither Baghdad nor Kabul is the security position good enough to allow museums to reopen — and the Kabul Museum is a ruin. It has been mooted that both the Bactrian and Nimrud treasures should go on international tour to museums in the US. The Musee Guimet in Paris, which has a magnificent Afghan collection, has expressed interest in the Bactrian gold. But these are highly sensitive proposals. To parade the Nimrud jewellery around the US, insists Collon, would 'not be at all a tactful thing to do. Let the Iraqi people see their treasures first'." Photo: "A journalist views a bas-relief from the The Treasures of Nimrud at the Iraqi National Museum. Picture: AFP" [misleading caption: "Treasure[s] of Nimrud" is usually reserved for the gold and silver jewelry from the  queens' tombs]

"The Iraqi Jewish Archive Preservation Report. October 2, 2003," in Middle East Librarians Association Committee on Iraqi Libraries, online, [January 12, 2004]: I've been remiss in not adding this report earlier (5-3-05); "Rare, historic and modern books, documents and parchment scrolls pertaining to the Iraqi Jewish community were found in the flooded basement of the Iraqi Intelligence (Mukhabahrat) headquarters in Baghdad in early May 2003. Upon removal from the basement, the wet materials ... were packed into sacks and transported to a nearby location where they were partially dried.  Dr. Harold Rhode, expert in Middle Eastern and Islamic Affairs, Department of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, provided a general review and initial sorting of the contents during the retrieval process, after which the materials were placed in 27 metal trunks. The ... CPA ... arranged for the materials to be frozen, which served to stabilize the condition and eliminate further mold growth. ... conservators from the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) traveled to Baghdad June 20-23 to assess the condition of the materials and develop recommendations for their preservation." "... 16th-20th century Jewish rare books, correspondence and document files, pamphlets, modern books, audio tape and parchment scrolls.  Languages represented in the Archive include Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Arabic and English (a few items). ... Rare works include: ... the 'Ketubim' volume of the monumental Third Rabbinic Bible that was published in Venice by Giovanni di Gara in 1568; and ... what appears to be Abraham Brudo's 'Birkat Avraham,' which was published in Venice in 1696."; mostly 19th-20th-century materials; as far as I know, nothing much has happened since the  archive was flown to the US [see also Minter August 2004] Photo 1: "Removing the Iraqi Jewish Archive materials from the flooded Mukhabahrat basement.  May 2003 - Photos by Harold Rhode" Photo 2: "Books and documents after removal from the Mukhabarat basement.  May 2003 - Photos by Harold Rhode" Photo 3: "Frozen books and documents in the Iraqi Jewish Archive - Photos by Doris Hamburg" Photo 4: "Iraqi Jewish Archive in trunks in the freezer truck - Photos by Doris Hamburg"

• "El patrimonio de Iraq en manos del tráfico internacional del arte," in El Comercio (Ecuador), January 11, 2003: an example of how many news outlets still, unbelievably, haven't done their homework and are stuck in the polemics of April and May: this article still says that 170,000 artifacts went missing from the National Museum in Baghdad; others are still claiming that hardly anything was lost; for the record, close to 11,000 artifacts are still estimated missing and the number could still go up some (assessment and checking against inventories still ongoing)
• M. Campbell, "Iraq’s Culture Cops Go Hunting Looters," in The Sunday Times (UK), January 11, 2004: "In his dark suit and tie, Mario Bondioli-Osio, a former diplomat, is an oddity among the occupants of Saddam Hussein’s former Republican Palace, the coalition’s headquarters in Baghdad. At 68 the bearded Italian ... is perhaps the oldest official to have forsaken the comforts of home for the privations of life in a trailer ... But the way he is going about his cultural mission to Iraq is raising just as many eyebrows: he is giving out guns. ... the Archeological Site Protection Force, as it is known, is about to be launched in six Iraqi provinces with funding from the US State Department. ... 'I hope that soon, with the help of funding by the State Department and American private foundations, all 18 provinces will be covered.' ... Giovanni Curatela, a professor of Islamic art who assists him, notwithstanding the red bow tie that jumps out from a surrounding sea of khaki. Unlike the foreign military personnel on duty in Baghdad, these Italians do not have to be there. 'They chose to come,' said an American major at the CPA headquarters. 'They must be nuts.'" "It is not hard to find Iraqis peddling archeological goods in Baghdad: the house of one dealer who called himself Khaled resembled a private museum. He had bought the ancient vases, pots and candle-holders scattered about his floor from diggers in southern Iraq in the hope of selling them at a big profit in Beirut. ... holding up a handful of trinkets, including a gold ring emblazoned with a mythical creature that appeared to be half fish and half horse. He did not think the new police force would threaten his livelihood. 'It won’t make any difference,' he said. 'Iraq is like a giant mine of ancient treasures. They cannot guard everywhere from the diggers.' Italy, which has its own culture police and long experience of dealing with archeological theft, hopes to prove him wrong: a unit from the 2,300 carabinieri based in the southeastern city of Nasiriya is to help train a force that will eventually field up to 2,000 armed police, ... In a fashion-conscious, Italian touch, a shield will be painted on the sides of their shiny new vehicles featuring an ancient Sumerian vase." "Tragedy struck on Thursday when Nahla Whagid, the interpreter in his office, was killed by a bomb. 'She was a beautiful and clever girl, engaged to be married,' said Bondioli-Osio. 'I had to call the family through my Iraqi driver and take them to the morgue. You can imagine the mother.'" [for details about the attack, see January 8]; "He also mourns Oku Katsuhiko and Inoue Masamori, two Japanese colleagues involved in efforts to fund the archeological police force. They were shot dead as they left a restaurant in Tikrit, Saddam’s heartland north of Baghdad, at the end of last year." [I hadn't heard about their involvement with archaeology before]
• M. Bailey, "A New UK Law to Fight the Illicit Trade. It Is Now an Offence to Handle an Object If You Know That It Was Illegally Removed From a Site Anywhere in the World After 2003," in The Art Newspaper (UK), [January 9, 2004]: "... came into force at the beginning of the year. The Dealing in Cultural Objects Offences Act ..." "... a detailed analysis by The Art Newspaper suggests that the burden of evidence is so high that prosecutions will be very difficult. In order to be convicted, it is necessary to prove that a person 'knew' or 'believed' that an object was tainted—mere suspicion is not enough. The prosecution will also have to show that the item had been removed from a site illegally after the UK law came into force on 30 December 2003. This onerous burden of proof has led the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to estimate that there will probably be not more than one prosecution every two to three years." "The bill began as a Private Member’s initiative in the House of Commons, proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allan. But partly as a result of the looting of antiquities in Iraq, the issue was seen as increasingly important and the bill received government support. Although events in Iraq speeded up progress, it should be stressed that the new law is not retrospective, so it does not affect objects which were looted in Baghdad last April. It also does not apply to losses from museums, although it does cover archaeological sites. A special UK Order in Council on Iraq was introduced in June, to cover sanctions, and among other measures it bans the handling of illegally-removed Iraqi cultural property." "Some dealers remain concerned. One London specialist in Asian antiquities told us that he fears the new law will 'exclude Britain from the art market—the trade will simply go elsewhere'. He believes it is 'a confusing law, which was passed very quickly as an hysterical reaction to what happened in Baghdad'. However, the Dealing in Cultural Objects Offences Act is now fully backed by the British Art Market Federation and the major trade bodies."; see also M. Bailey, "Point by Point: A Guide to the New UK Law," ibidem
• "Buried Treasure. Outrage Over Iraq Museum's Looting Turns to Silence Over Its Future," in The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2004: "When U.S. forces arrived on the scene they found the Baathists had made the museum a well-fortified defensive position (itself a violation of international law) complete with sniper posts." ["a well-fortified defensive position": this was not true, at least an overstatement]; "But Columbia University art Prof. Zainab Bahrani says that it may take five to 10 years before we know exactly what was taken. What worries her most is not even the museum itself but the unsecured Iraqi excavation sites that are still being plundered. Not that it's been all bad. The Italian Carabinieri, for example, have done yeoman's work photographing and cataloging the surviving treasures, which should ultimately yield a computer-based master catalog. Even within the mayhem itself Col. Bogdanos saw some hopeful signs: While the museum's administrative offices--occupied by those associated with Saddam's regime--were trashed and vandalized, the public galleries were left largely intact. The colonel hopes that the silver lining might be an Iraqi museum that is really public. 'In legal, moral and ethical terms, this museum always belonged to the people,' says the colonel. 'But in reality it was always Saddam's.' Ironically, says Prof. Bahrani, foreign interest in the plight of Iraq's cultural treasures appears to be dissipating at the very moment that the museum desperately needs computers, climate control and other equipment to protect and preserve a collection that has been neglected for a decade. 'It was one thing for everyone to be outraged when we thought so much had been destroyed,' she says. 'But what we need are fewer grandiose plans and more immediate action on the things that can be done now.'"

"Iraq: morta interprete irachena," in Yahoo Italia Notizie, January 8, 2003: the Iraqi interpreter in the convoy on its way to the National Museum died from wounds suffered from the attack by rebels [see Russell February 1 for corrections] Photo: "Giovedì  8 Gennaio 2004, 15:52 - Iraq: morta interprete irachena" [Thursday 8 January 2004 3:52 p.m. - Iraq: Iraqi interpreter is dead][this photo, however, turned out to be unrelated to the attack in question, see Russell February 1]

• "Iraq - Attacco a gippone Usa, illeso carabiniere italiano. Senza ferite il maggiore dei carabinieri Michele Facciorusso, ma nell’attacco è invece rimasta gravemente ferita una interprete irachena," in La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (Italy), January 8, 2003: a US military humvee convoy on its way from CPA headquarters to the National Museum in Baghdad was attacked and one vehicle destroyed; Major Michele Facciorusso of the artistic patrimony unit of the carabinieri was unharmed but an Iraqi interpreter was severely injured; Facciorusso is part of the cultural heritage protection command of the carabinieri; it was a remote-controlled bomb followed by gunfire [see Russell February 1 for corrections]
• "Archeological Site Protection Discussed in Al-Hilla," in Coalition Provisional Authority (Iraq), January 6, 2003: "... archaeologists, representatives from the Ministry of Culture, and Coalition Partners gathered in Al Hilla for an Archaeology Summit. They discussed the Archaeological Sites Protection Project (ASP Project), which holds responsibility for helping to safeguard more than 7,000 identified archaeological sites in Iraq. Ambassador Mario Bondioli Osio, the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Culture, presented slides of archaeological sites already ransacked by looters. ... The ASP Project intends to organize all the archaeological sites, so that each site is guarded by multiple guards who have radio communications with a nearby police department. The ASP Project will first be implemented in Dhi Qar Province. Once the Dhi Qar province is functioning properly, the plan will be implemented throughout all of Iraq. Italian Cabinnari [sic] will assist in training the guards, since they have successfully protected archaeological sites in Italy. Currently, there are 3,232 sites being watched by 1,272 guards throughout Iraq. The ASP Project changes the status of these guards to members of the Facilities Protection Service (FPS) status. This will allow them to carry weapons and detain suspected looters for up to 12 hours." [this is important!]; "Additionally, their task will change from defenders of the sites to a strong security force that works closely with the Iraqi Police, alerting the police when looters are discovered at the archaeological sites. Dr. Mariam U’Mran, from the Babil [= Babylon] Archaeological Office, thanked the Coalition for their efforts in providing more than 350 guards to protect 432 archaeological sites in Babil Province. 'Babil Province is better off than most provinces. But my desire is that all of Iraq will benefit from this project.' Mr. Mike Gfoeller, CPA's South Central Regional Coordinator promised $1M (1.8 Billion Iraqi Dinars) in additional funding for the ASP Project. 'We can also begin a special unit within the Iraqi Police departments to track down antiquities and put a stop to the looting,' said Mr. Gfoeller."
  
• S. Kinzer, "Eyes on Mesopotamian Glory," in The New York Times, January 6, 2004: "Until last year, few Americans felt drawn to museum shows featuring Mesopotamian antiquities. But the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in April focused new attention on this ancient civilization, ... The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, ... has opened a new hall to display [its Mesopotamian antiquities]. At the same time, museums are clamoring to mount a traveling show about Mesopotamia that has been assembled by the University of Pennsylvania. ... Richard Zettler, a curator of the University of Pennsylvania show, 'Treasures From the Royal Tombs of Ur,' which has extended its run in Philadelphia and will go on the road again later this year." "... specialists in the field consider the Chicago and Pennsylvania collections especially valuable because they are made up mainly of items that come directly from ancient sites rather than through dealers or collectors."
• C. Freeman, "American Troops Launch 'Exorcist' Tour at Ancient Temple," in The Sunday Telegraph (UK), January 4, 2004: "American troops in Iraq have launched what has been dubbed 'The Exorcist Experience', after discovering that the ancient ruins they were guarding provided the location for the 1973 horror classic's opening sequence. They now plan to help locals put the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra back on the international tourist map by marketing it as a future holiday destination to fans of the cult film." "The regiment hatched the plan to revamp the Assyrian [sic] site's derelict visitors' facilities after spending the summer living in Hatra's 200ft-high sun temples to protect them from looters." "... Hatra's distinctive skyline in the director William Friedkin's opening sequence, in which a priest at an archaeology dig unearths the ancient Mesopotamian demon that goes on to possess a young American girl. 'It was filmed a bit before Saddam really came to power, and the opening scene was made at an actual excavation that was taking place here at the time,' said Capt Guran ..." "More recently, the temple has been associated with the so-called Exorcist's Curse, said to have plagued all those involved in the film with bad luck. 'We had an incident a while back where one soldier shot another, and there were mutterings about it being the curse of Hatra,' said Capt Guran. 'We had to stop that right away.'"
• G. Elich, "Spoils of War: The Antiquities Trade and the Looting of Iraq," in Centre for Research on Globalization (Canada), online, January 3, 2004: good overview article; "For the Bush Administration and Western corporate interests, the artifacts stored at the National Museum had no discernible value, for there was nothing there that concerned Western corporate interests. Uncomprehending American officials were baffled that anyone would care so much about anything so inessential as archaeology and art, and expected the outcry to fade within a day or two. ... Only when it became obvious that the matter was turning into a public relations fiasco were U.S. officials prodded out of their callous disregard and lethargy." "It will take many months, and possibly years, before the staff can complete an inventory of what remains. That effort will be hindered by the fact that looters deliberately burned the museum files in an effort to make it more difficult to trace stolen objects." [as far as I know, the files are more or less intact and were not burnt]; "[Archaeologist] Francis Deblauwe estimates that 'about four percent of the collection may need expert care.'" "The subject rapidly faded from public consciousness once it became clear that the total number of looted objects fell well short of initial estimates. Aside from the occasional story relating the successful recovery of artifacts, the matter was no longer considered newsworthy. Predictably, waning public interest engendered a corresponding lack of motivation by U.S. officials in pursuing the investigation. No replacement was named to succeed Col. Bogdanos in leading the investigation when his tour of duty ended in November 2003. Strikingly, this failed to elicit any reaction from the press." [good point]; "From the standpoint of collectors and dealers, an artifact has value first as a commodity or investment and secondly for its artistic value. For archaeologists, an artifact found in context may impart much information about life in the society of its origin."; examples of antiquities looting and illegal trade all over the world; also published in UN Observer & International Report, January 5, 2004
• "Govt to Use Expertise in Iraq: Reconstruction Activities Seek Cooperation With France, Germany," in Yomiuru Shimbun (Japan), [January 3, 2004]: "The main pillars of the [Japanese-government] aid plan include the restoration of the Mesopotamian wetland, feared to be endangered, and training Iraqi teachers and museum curators."

Photo: "Some of the original walls of ancient Babylon" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]
Photo: "More of the original wall on the right" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]
Photo: "More of the original outer walls. Notice the inlaid depictions of lions and other animals in the masonry" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]
Photo: "From the outside, the walls leading to the palace look like a maze. In the background is the hill where the Tower of Babel once stood; it is now only the bottom of the foundation" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]
Photo: "More of the original wall with masonry details" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]
Photo: "Part of the original Babylon main road; it was covered in a material which closely resembles modern asphalt" [National Guard tour of duty in 2003; Tobiasly's Photo Gallery. Babylon Trip, January 2, 2004]

L. Cremonesi, "«I veri criminali sono i mercanti in Europa e Stati Uniti». I carabinieri a caccia dei predoni dell’arte. In pattuglia con i militari italiani in Iraq, per salvare un tesoro che risale a cinquemila anni fa," in Corriere della Sera (Italy), with online audio, January 2, 2004: marshall Franco Caligiore commands the "Vai per Cinque" ["go for five" (?); 1-22-04: misunderstood "Vyper 5," which if English would normally be "Viper 5"?; see Gallo January 16] team that seeks to protect the antiquities; Cremonesi witnessed them catching some looters in the act at the gigantic Sumerian necropolis of "Al-Lham," 40 km south of Nasiriyyah [I think he means Tell el-Lahm, to the southeast of Nasiriyyah]; Abdulamir el-Hamdani, the director general for antiquities of the Dhi Qar province, said the cemetery was unknown till recently; hundreds, even thousands of holes pockmark the site already; this was the first time a carabinieri helicopter patrol arrested looters again since the devastating bomb attack on their barracks on November 12; vice-brigadeer Paul Maralla said it was nice to return to the normal routine; 4 of the carabinieri killed in the November attack belonged to their predecessor "archaeological" team: a lot of expertise lost; at least 60 out of an estimated 1500 tombs have been robbed at Tell el-Lahm [how does this rhyme with the 100s, 1000s of holes? I guess the success rate of the looters must not have been too high, fortunately; or the journalist was exaggerating a little before]; they are littered with smashed terracotta jars and fragments of bones but the ceramic urns are stolen as are the necklaces made of gold and shells, gone are the cuneiform tablets; Mario Bondioli Osio who has since end September assumed the duties of Minister of Culture has pushed hard to reconstitute the archaeological guard organization; 111 guards received their wages 2 days ago at the headquarters in Nasiriyyah: nearly $70, better than the $12 under Saddam Hussein but the cost of living has skyrocketed and the looters are offering more as a bribe; soon they will receive guns, portable radios, jeeps and observation towers to place at the sites; at Tell el-Lahm, 3 guards will have to take turns because it's so easy to find the urns just by walking around on the clayish soil Photos 1-13: "Con i carabinieri nel deserto [with the carabinieri in the desert] (Cristiano Laruffa/Lapresse)" [at Tell el-Lahm; evidence of looting and captured looters; photos 10-13 are probably not from Tell el-Lahm] Photos 14-18: "Con i carabinieri nel deserto [with the carabinieri in the desert] - (Lapresse)" [this generic caption obviously doesn't describe the photos well, e.g., photo 15 shows the ziggurat of Ur]

• [M. Rose], "Conversations: Building Trust in Iraq. A Manhattan D.A. Recalls His Investigation of the Baghdad Museum Looting," in Archaeology, January-February 2004: more from the interview with Matthew Bogdanos (see also Rose October 16): "What's still missing? You have the public gallery from which originally forty exhibits were taken. We've recovered eleven. Turning to the storage rooms, there were about 3,150 pieces taken from those, and that's almost certainly by random and indiscriminant looters. Of those, we've recovered about 2,700. So there's about 400 of those pieces, excavated pieces, missing. The final group is from the basement. The basement is what we've been calling the inside job. And I will say it forever like a mantra; it is inconceivable to me that the basement was breached and the items stolen without an intimate insider's knowledge of the museum. From there about 10,000 pieces were taken. We've only recovered 650, approximately."; "What's the link between the people who looted the museum and those looting sites outside Baghdad? We are seeing that it is the same pipeline, the same pre-existing art-smuggling architecture, if you will, that is being used both for items taken from the museum, particularly the basement, and these sites. How would you describe this case? This is clearly for me the most rewarding investigation, on a personal level, that I've ever either led or participated in."
• "Coopérations. Iraq," in Bulletin d'Information Archéologique (Egypt and France), 28 (July-December 2003 [January 2004]): at the annual meeting of the Association of Arab Archaeologists in Cairo which focused on Iraq, Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, pointed out that some international organizations didn't recognize the AAA's right to speak in the name of all Arab archaeologists, so it was decided to seek to affiliate it with the Arab League; Mahmud Abdallah of the Syrian Antiquities Service complained that the archaeologists of the Arab world had done a lot of vetting of wording regarding Iraqi antiquities but not taken any action; Nahid Daftar, prof. of archaeology at the University of Baghdad, hoped archaeology would still be taught at his university in the future [strange; as far as I know, there are no plans to abolish archaeology as a discipline at Baghdad University but of course you never know]; he also wanted to organize a conference in Baghdad for his Arab colleagues; a fact-finding commission of archaeologists from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Tunesia, Syria and Egypt, led by AAA Director General Muhammed el-Kahlawi and Dr. Muhammed Abd el-Maqsud will visit Baghdad; it is estimated that 30,000 artifacts were stolen from the National Museum, 600 of which were among the most beautiful and the most exquisite in Iraq; Muhammed Bahgat el-Qabisi, prof. of archaeology at Cairo University, warned that Israel might try to sneak in fake artifacts among the returned ones in order to establish false claims [anti-semitism of the purest kind]; there are a few other Arab archaeologists quoted that subscribe to these kinds of pathetic theories too; Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities still refuses categorically to cooperate in any way with the Israeli Antiquities Services or Israeli archaeologists in general

"Irak, Al Muthanna, Uruk (warka) 1 januari 2004," in Nederlands Detachement Irak (Netherlands), online, January 1, 2004 All photos: "Copyright Koninklijke Marine" Photo 1: [no caption; Dutch soldiers on top of ruins at Warka] Photo 2: "Waar eens de priester stond staat nu Ivo, de cameraman van het videoteam van de Koninklijke Marine. Hij is bezig met opnamen voor de videoband welke gedraaid zal worden tijdens de midtermdagen te doorn. Op de voorgrond liggen de rails die zijn achtergelaten door de duitse archeologen." [Ivo, the camera man of the Royal Marines video team, stands where once priests stood.  He is filming a video to be shown at the midterm days in Doorn.  In the foreground you can see the rail tracks left behind by the German archaeologists] [ziggurat] Photo 3: [no caption; ruins at Warka] Photo 4: "Na de rondleiding kon er worden genoten van een aangeboden iraakse maaltijd bestaande uit kip, rijst, salade, brood, en een westers toetje." [After the tour we enjoyed the meal offered by the Iraqis: chicken, rice, lettuce, bread and a Western desert]