N E W S

Havana. May 8,  2003

BY MICHEL PORCHERON – Special for Granma International –

FOR several days no one in Baghdad knew who was Ali Baba and who were the thieves, to such a point that the looters actually began to call themselves "the Ali Baba's"¼ But there weren’t 40, instead probably thousands who plundered without difficulty countless locations that had been destroyed or affected and left abandoned (including hospitals) by Anglo-U.S. troops who were indifferent spectators to the violent acts of looting.

For Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, such acts were inevitable, like riots at a football match.

Commenting on such violent facts, Rumsfeld declared to The New York Times that there was disorder; but that freedom is disorder and people who are free are at liberty to make mistakes and commit crimes¼ Most of all, when the looters are sufficiently careful not to touch certain Iraqi buildings. Like for example, the Ministry for Oil, a building that after being carefully maintained outside of General Tommy Franks’ bombing orders, was immediately and amply protected by troops. This surely will remain in history as one of the distinctive symbols of this war of "liberation."

A U.S. official stated that they had no orders in respect of the looting and were unable to do anything. Another maintained that people were avenging themselves for past injustices. "I’m a soldier, not a police officer", explained one sergeant. However, the Geneva Convention stipulates that campaigning armies have an obligation to maintain order and security in cities that have been taken or occupied.

The fact is that, from April 10 onwards, Baghdad was left to thieves and looters of all kinds who, descending on the city, literally carried off all they could find in their path without the slightest reaction from U.S. troops, as was highlighted by journalists who witnessed the scenes.

So, each according to his needs, as is the case of the looters in the occupied Iraqi capital. In that incredible atmosphere of the Wild West, the inventory of looting would slide into surrealism, if the situation wasn’t so dramatic: from garbage trucks to operating tables stolen from hospitals, washbasins, computers, marble counters, ministerial archives and all kinds of vehicles, etc, etc¼ And, of course, "there’s no money in the banks." And all of this was accompanied by fires started deliberately in numerous buildings. The 12-story Central Bank of Iraq was also set ablaze. Meanwhile, 99% of the population of Baghdad do not dare to leave their homes.

However, some day, some far-off day, everything (or almost everything) will be repaired, rebuilt, and mended. And the looters will be forgotten.

But there are other forms of plunder that cannot be forgotten and some stolen objects that are irreplaceable. Donald Rumsfeld commented that television channels are constantly showing the same images of people leaving buildings carrying vases. "They have showed it 20 times. Are there really that many vases in that country?" he stated, in one of those "subtle" statements to which we have become accustomed. (Some day they should be published as a kind of "complete works")

In less than 48 hours, the National Archeology Museum of Iraq, one of the most important museums in the world - inaugurated in 1976 and possessing historical treasures dating back 7,000 years (some 170,000 pieces) - was looted, right under the noses of U.S. troops¼

Since then, dozens of these relics have been appearing in airports and ports in the United States, including in the possession of the invaders’ offices.

"Would the French or the British be capable of forgiving an invading force, a "liberator" who burned down the Louvre, the British Museum, the National Library of France or the British Library?" asked French historian Georgette Elgey and professor of medicine Jean-Phillipe Derenne. Why not add New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art to the list? Both figures emphasized: "such acts characterize the barbarity of those who provoke them and allow them to be committed."

However, the United States was forewarned of all this before it embarked on its supposedly "pre-emptive" war. The international press echoed efforts by Iraqi and foreign archeologists to guarantee the museum’s protection as quickly as possible. It was all in vain. "The United States understands the value and diversity of Iraqi patrimony. We have given them a list of important sites. I hope they use it," said Mounir Bouchenaki, UNESCO director for cultural matters to Le Monde.

Two meetings bringing together experts from different countries took place on April 17 and 29, in Paris and London, initiated by UNESCO and the British Museum, respectively. According to the first list (and relating solely to Baghdad), the National Museum, the Museum of Arts and Crafts, the National Library, Saddam House (that contained more 40,000 manuscripts), the Archives Center and the Koran Library attached to the Ministry for Religious Affairs have been looted. (The last three were, in fact, set ablaze).

The first result of the meetings was how difficult it will be to take stock bearing in mind that, in addition to the museums, there are thousands of archeological sites dispersed throughout Iraq.

With the exception of an unlikely coincidence, many priceless pieces looted from the Baghdad Archeological Museum can be considered definitively lost. Was anything recovered from the Kabul Museum collections, from which more than 80% of its pieces were stolen 10 years ago? Where are the thousands of Iraqi archeological pieces stolen during the first Gulf War? "Rumors point to the emergence of some of those objects on Western markets," said Emmanuel de Roux, who moreover added that UNESCO plans to put a list of objects recorded in Iraqi museums on the Internet and call for a campaign to impede the sale of Iraqi artifacts. Meanwhile, Interpol, which held an international conference on stolen Iraqi art at its headquarters, May 5-6, immediately sent various expert agents to the neighboring countries.

On April 16, during a European Union summit meeting in Athens, French President Jacques Chirac termed the acts of looting committed at the Baghdad Archeological Museum as "veritable crimes against humanity." According to Jean-Yves Marin, president of the international committee for Museums and Archeology and History Collections, "this tragedy was totally preventable; everything points to premeditation." In what she qualified as a "national disaster," Nawala Al-Mutawali, director of the Iraqi museums, said that the United States is directly responsible for this massive act of vandalism. "Due to negligence, in terms of preventing the looting of the Baghdad Archeological Museum, the most beautiful in the Middle East, U.S. soldiers have deprived the world of the marvels that belong to it (...) To permit the looting of a museum is called complicity to a crime," commented a military advisor who recalled in passing that "innumerable horrors were committed during World War II; however, certain cultural gestures were taken into account."

All warring nations, without exception, preserved the legendary cultural assets of Leningrad, Rome, Florence, Sienna and Paris. In Iraq, Mr. Bush’s troops preferred to pursue their favorite sport: the search for the overthrown regime’s "big fish." Each U.S. soldier carries in his pocket a deck of 52 cards with the photos of Iraqi leaders Washington hopes to capture dead or alive... like in the good old days of the Wild West.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell appears to recognize that his country is "conscious of its responsibility." Meanwhile, two Bush advisors, Martin Sullivan, 8-year president of the White House Advisory Committee on Cultural Assets for UNESCO, and Gary Vikan, a member of the same committee, turned in their resignations. The newspaper The Observer revealed on April 20 that even the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid, directed by Jay Garner, Washington’s named "governor" of Iraq, had warned on March 24 that U.S. troops had to prioritize the protection of the Archeological Museum... immediately after that of the Central Bank. Will this be the prelude to a legal battle: Franks vs. Garner? The best Rumsfeld can come up with is to have offered a reward to anyone who recovers any stolen goods. With another deck of cards? There would be so many that the marines wouldn’t know where to put them all. Knowing that the Pentagon is offering up to $200,000 USD to anyone who can aid in the capture of any former Iraqi leader, how much would Washington pay for a winged bull of Khorsabad, a bas-relief of Nimrud or a Babylonian relic (or one from the Persian dynasty founded by Ardacher I)? ...and for a weapon of mass destruction?