From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Sat Apr 19 2003 - 22:37:49 EDT
William T. Yates wrote:
>
> Also please note that it appears to have been an organized heist by
> knowledgeable people. They had keys to the vaults and display cases. The
> items taken were not indiscriminate choices. While some 'looting' did
> occur, the real loss seems to have been the result of a planned criminal
> heist.
>
> As for priorities in protecting places, the first priority is force
> protection. If you can't protect yourself, you can't protect anything
> else. This is war. Baghdad is still not totally safe and certainly was
> not so when the theft occurred. At the time, the number of coalition
> forces was limited, and still is. Until more details are known, I would
> be leery of accusing the US of dereliction of duty (some almost go so
> far as to accuse the US of complicity). I think those who have resigned
> may have done so on the basis of incomplete and inaccurate informaton.
>
> One of my superiors once had a slogan, "No immediate action, ever." A
> cautionary warning not to react without thinking and knowledge. That can
> apply to more than war news.
>
> A late report says that paintings apparently stolen from the museum were
> recovered at the Jordanian border today. All may not be lost.
Members of Saddam's regime apparently stashed away about $ 4 x 10^9 really the
property of the Iraqi people) in foreign accounts & it will be no surprise if we find
that the pillaging of the Baghdad museums were done in part with their connivance.
U.S. forces undoubtedly could have dome a better job of protecting these treasures but
that isn't the whole story. None of the real historical treasures will be able to go on
the open market, & there's a high probability that most will be recovered. We don't
live in the best of all possible worlds.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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