[CPProt.net] Looting of Iraq's Antiquities Still Common

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Looting of Iraq's Antiquities Still Common


(KCBS) SAN FRANCISCO - Three kinds of looters raided Iraq's museums, said
the man in charge of Iraq's collection of antiquities--common criminals,
collectors, and many who had inside knowledge of the museums.


Iraq's archeological heritage remains at risk, according to Dr. Donny
George, director of the Iraq Museum and chairman of Iraq's State Board of
Antiquities and Heritage. Violence in the country has made even the daily
commute a life or death situation.


Not long ago, George did not worry when he traveled back and forth between
home and his office in Baghdad. Now when he commutes, there is no guarantee
he will reach his destination.


"When I go the office," George told KCBS's Mike Pulsipher, "I tell you the
truth. I won't know that I'll reach the office or not. On coming back, I
won't know whether I reach home or not. It's like that. You might be in an
incident or you might be attacked. Nobody knows."


In those uncertain circumstances, the country's museums are not secure, and
even trusted museum officials become suspect as the country's heritage
disappears under the fog of war.


"In full darkness, they went through one large room," he said describing how
investigators recreated a recent theft.


"They went to the second room, turned right, then at the end turned left,
went through some boxes that were there and got the most small and precious
material that we have there," said George. "So this is a group that we
believe they had some good knowledge from inside."


But Baghdad is his home, and George said no amount of violence can keep him
away from his family.


"Whatever happens I have to go back," George said, adding that in Iraq's
history, blood shed is not unprecedented.


"As an archeologist, we know in the history, there were times like this," he
said, "but they never last forever."


George will return to Iraq at the end of November.


You can hear Mike Pulsipher's entire conversation with Dr. Danny George on
KCBS In-Depth, Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_309133945.html