UNESCO inspection finds no evidence of recent looting in Northern Iraq

A UNESCO mission has visited northern Iraq, with transport and security arranged by American troops. The specialists visited four key sites -- Nimrud, Ninevah, Ashur and Hatra -- and found no evidence of recent looting. This was the first UNESCO inspection since the 2003 invasion.

The visit, which for security reasons was not publicised at the time, was from 18-25 November. Details of their findings were later released by Dr Suzanne Bott, a US State Department cultural heritage advisor based at Mosul, in Ninewa province. UNESCO confirmed the mission had taken place, saying that it had been organised by the Provisional Reconstruction Team, a civilian organisation set up by the US Army.

The UNESCO team documented "only minor wilful destruction, looting or criminal activity at the sites" since 2003. This confirms similar findings from a British Museum-led visit by international specialists to eight sites in southern Iraq in June (The Art Newspaper, July-August 2008, p.1,4). Damage could have been worse at sites which were not visited, and more inspections are necessary.

Nevertheless, the UNESCO mission in November did report that there was considerable evidence of looting in the 1980s and 90s, under Saddam Hussein. Early damage had been particularly bad at Ninevah, where the Sennacherib Palace reliefs were "almost entirely removed".

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	relevant snip: found no evidence of recent looting. This was the first UNESCO inspection since the 2003 invasion... there was considerable evidence of looting in the 1980s and 90s, under Saddam Hussein. Early damage had been particularly bad at Ninevah, where the Sennacherib Palace reliefs were "almost entirely removed". cue that video of the MoveOn simpleton telling everyone how she likes that dictator. cc to neverdem. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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“found no evidence of recent looting. This was the first UNESCO inspection since the 2003 invasion... there was considerable evidence of looting in the 1980s and 90s, under Saddam Hussein.”

So does that mean all the looting that everyone was screaming about actually happened a long time ago?

That’s correct. This pertains to northern Iraq. The looting of the museum in Baghdad happened as a consequence of Saddam’s overthrow, well, when he turned tail and ran to the spider hole. Coalition troops had more dangerous stuff to worry about.

The amount missing from the museum was pretty small, and some had been locked away since the Gulf War (i.e., long before the overthrow of Saddam and the liberation of Iraq). One of these related topics links goes to a Mark Steyn topics, “Rummy Was Right, One Vase, 170000 Times”:

touches on it:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/931859/posts

sidebars:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/902357/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1468723/posts

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