E' arrivata la democrazia in Iraq! (1)
Names and surnames of the looters of the Iraqi cultural heritage:
1. US plans to loot Iraqi antiques
(Liam McDougall, Sunday Herald 7/4/2003)
2. Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the hordes of
looters (Robert Fisk, The Independent 14/4/2003)
=== 1 ===
[Note that this has been written before the lootings!]
US plans to loot Iraqi antiques
07.04.2003 [08:33]
FEARS that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting
at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a
group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level
meeting with the US administration.
It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities
collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the
American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with
US defence and state department officials prior to the
start of military action to offer its assistance in
preserving the country's invaluable archaeological
collections.
The group is known to consist of a number of
influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq's
tight restrictions on the ownership and export of
antiquities. Its treasurer, William Pearlstein, has
described Iraq's laws as 'retentionist' and has said he
would support a post-war government that would make it
easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US.
Before the Gulf war, a main strand of the ACCP's
campaigning has been to persuade its government to
revise the Cultural Property Implementation Act in
order to minimise efforts by foreign nations to block
the import into the US of objects, particularly
antiques.
News of the group's meeting with the government has
alarmed scientists and archaeologists who fear the ACCP
is working to a hidden agenda that will see the US
authorities ease restrictions on the movement of Iraqi
artefacts after a coalition victory in Iraq.
Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, leading Cambridge
archaeologist and director of the McDonald Institute
for Archaeological Research, said: 'Iraqi antiquities
legislation protects Iraq. The last thing one needs is
some group of dealer-connected Americans interfering.
Any change to those laws would be absolutely monstrous.
'
A wave of protest has also come from the Archaeological
Institute of America (AIA), which says any weakening of
Iraq's strict antiquities laws would be 'disastrous'.
President Patty Gerstenblith said: 'The ACCP's agenda
is to encourage the collecting of antiquities through
weakening the laws of archaeologically-rich nations and
eliminate national ownership of antiquities to allow
for easier export. '
The ACCP has caused deep unease among archaeologists
since its creation in 2001. Among its main members are
collectors and lawyers with chequered histories in
collecting valuable artefacts, including alleged
exhibitions of Nazi loot.
They denied accusations of attempting to change Iraq's
treatment of archaeological objects. Instead, they said
at the January meeting they offered 'post-war technical
and financial assistance', and 'conservation support'.
Liam McDougall/Sunday Herald
=== 2 ===
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/
story.jsp?story=396997&host=3&dir=75
Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the hordes of looters
By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
14 April 2003
Iraq's scavengers have thieved and destroyed what they have been
allowed to loot and burn by the Americans - and a two-hour drive
around Baghdad shows clearly what the US intends to protect.
After days of arson and pillage, here's a short but revealing
scorecard.
US troops have sat back and allowed mobs to wreck and then burn the
Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry
of Irrigation, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry
of Information. They did nothing to prevent looters from destroying
priceless treasures of Iraq's history in the Baghdad Archaeological
Museum and in the museum in the northern city of Mosul, or from
looting three hospitals.
The Americans have, though, put hundreds of troops inside two Iraqi
ministries that remain untouched - and untouchable - because tanks and
armoured personnel carriers and Humvees have been
placed inside and outside both institutions. And which ministries
proved to be so important for the Americans? Why, the Ministry of
Interior, of course - with its vast wealth of intelligence information
on Iraq - and the Ministry of Oil. The archives and files of Iraq's
most valuable asset - its oilfields and, even more important, its
massive reserves - are safe and sound, sealed off from the mobs and
looters, and safe to be shared, as Washington almost certainly
intends, with American oil companies.
It casts an interesting reflection on America's supposed war aims.
Anxious to "liberate" Iraq, it allows its people to destroy the
infrastructure of government as well as the private property of
Saddam's henchmen. Americans insist that the oil ministry is a vital
part of Iraq's inheritance, that the oilfields are to be held in trust
"for the Iraqi people". But is the Ministry of Trade - relit yesterday
by an enterprising arsonist - not vital to the future of Iraq? Are the
Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Irrigation - still burning
fiercely - not of critical importance to the next government? The
Americans could spare 2,000 soldiers to protect the Kirkuk oilfields
but couldn't even invest 200 to protect the Mosul museum from attack.
US engineers were confidently predicting that the Kirkuk oilfield will
be capable of pumping again "within weeks".
There was much talk of a "new posture" from the Americans yesterday.
Armoured and infantry patrols suddenly appeared on the middle-class
streets of the capital, ordering young men hauling fridges,
furniture and television sets to deposit their loot on the pavement if
they could not prove ownership. It was pitiful. After billions of
dollars of government buildings, computers and archives have been
destroyed, the Americans are stopping teens driving mule-drawn carts
loaded with second-hand chairs.
Names and surnames of the looters of the Iraqi cultural heritage:
1. US plans to loot Iraqi antiques
(Liam McDougall, Sunday Herald 7/4/2003)
2. Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the hordes of
looters (Robert Fisk, The Independent 14/4/2003)
=== 1 ===
[Note that this has been written before the lootings!]
US plans to loot Iraqi antiques
07.04.2003 [08:33]
FEARS that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting
at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a
group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level
meeting with the US administration.
It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities
collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the
American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with
US defence and state department officials prior to the
start of military action to offer its assistance in
preserving the country's invaluable archaeological
collections.
The group is known to consist of a number of
influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq's
tight restrictions on the ownership and export of
antiquities. Its treasurer, William Pearlstein, has
described Iraq's laws as 'retentionist' and has said he
would support a post-war government that would make it
easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US.
Before the Gulf war, a main strand of the ACCP's
campaigning has been to persuade its government to
revise the Cultural Property Implementation Act in
order to minimise efforts by foreign nations to block
the import into the US of objects, particularly
antiques.
News of the group's meeting with the government has
alarmed scientists and archaeologists who fear the ACCP
is working to a hidden agenda that will see the US
authorities ease restrictions on the movement of Iraqi
artefacts after a coalition victory in Iraq.
Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, leading Cambridge
archaeologist and director of the McDonald Institute
for Archaeological Research, said: 'Iraqi antiquities
legislation protects Iraq. The last thing one needs is
some group of dealer-connected Americans interfering.
Any change to those laws would be absolutely monstrous.
'
A wave of protest has also come from the Archaeological
Institute of America (AIA), which says any weakening of
Iraq's strict antiquities laws would be 'disastrous'.
President Patty Gerstenblith said: 'The ACCP's agenda
is to encourage the collecting of antiquities through
weakening the laws of archaeologically-rich nations and
eliminate national ownership of antiquities to allow
for easier export. '
The ACCP has caused deep unease among archaeologists
since its creation in 2001. Among its main members are
collectors and lawyers with chequered histories in
collecting valuable artefacts, including alleged
exhibitions of Nazi loot.
They denied accusations of attempting to change Iraq's
treatment of archaeological objects. Instead, they said
at the January meeting they offered 'post-war technical
and financial assistance', and 'conservation support'.
Liam McDougall/Sunday Herald
=== 2 ===
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/
story.jsp?story=396997&host=3&dir=75
Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the hordes of looters
By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
14 April 2003
Iraq's scavengers have thieved and destroyed what they have been
allowed to loot and burn by the Americans - and a two-hour drive
around Baghdad shows clearly what the US intends to protect.
After days of arson and pillage, here's a short but revealing
scorecard.
US troops have sat back and allowed mobs to wreck and then burn the
Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry
of Irrigation, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Industry, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry
of Information. They did nothing to prevent looters from destroying
priceless treasures of Iraq's history in the Baghdad Archaeological
Museum and in the museum in the northern city of Mosul, or from
looting three hospitals.
The Americans have, though, put hundreds of troops inside two Iraqi
ministries that remain untouched - and untouchable - because tanks and
armoured personnel carriers and Humvees have been
placed inside and outside both institutions. And which ministries
proved to be so important for the Americans? Why, the Ministry of
Interior, of course - with its vast wealth of intelligence information
on Iraq - and the Ministry of Oil. The archives and files of Iraq's
most valuable asset - its oilfields and, even more important, its
massive reserves - are safe and sound, sealed off from the mobs and
looters, and safe to be shared, as Washington almost certainly
intends, with American oil companies.
It casts an interesting reflection on America's supposed war aims.
Anxious to "liberate" Iraq, it allows its people to destroy the
infrastructure of government as well as the private property of
Saddam's henchmen. Americans insist that the oil ministry is a vital
part of Iraq's inheritance, that the oilfields are to be held in trust
"for the Iraqi people". But is the Ministry of Trade - relit yesterday
by an enterprising arsonist - not vital to the future of Iraq? Are the
Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Irrigation - still burning
fiercely - not of critical importance to the next government? The
Americans could spare 2,000 soldiers to protect the Kirkuk oilfields
but couldn't even invest 200 to protect the Mosul museum from attack.
US engineers were confidently predicting that the Kirkuk oilfield will
be capable of pumping again "within weeks".
There was much talk of a "new posture" from the Americans yesterday.
Armoured and infantry patrols suddenly appeared on the middle-class
streets of the capital, ordering young men hauling fridges,
furniture and television sets to deposit their loot on the pavement if
they could not prove ownership. It was pitiful. After billions of
dollars of government buildings, computers and archives have been
destroyed, the Americans are stopping teens driving mule-drawn carts
loaded with second-hand chairs.