Saturday, June 7, 2003
"Looted" Museum Treasures Found in Vault
Almost all of those priceless irreplaceable artifacts the media couldn't wait to tell us had been stolen by looters under the eyes of U.S. forces who blithely looked away while they were being stolen had not been taken after all - they were hidden away for safe keeping in a secret vault.
The alleged failure of U.S. forces to prevent the Baghdad Museum being plundered of a reported 170,000 items created a media firestorm, with anti-war journals reporting hysterically that some of history's most important relics had been stolen because the U.S. military was too busy fighting in the streets around the museum to halt the looting.
It now turns out that almost all the important artifacts are safe and sound.
"Earlier this week, 179 boxes that contained the vast majority of the museum's exhibition collection were discovered safe in a secret vault," the Bush administration said in a statement, according to Reuters news agency .
"The discovery of these boxes containing nearly 8,000 of the most important items from the museum's collection means that the work of the investigation team is drawing to a close."
Moreover, it has been shown that many of the items reported looted have been also been found, with some having been taken home by staff for safekeeping, and others hidden elsewhere, including the contents of the secret vault. Reuters says that Museum staff members had at first refused to reveal the location of the vault until U.S. troops had left Iraq, but later relented.
In another find, priceless historical jewelry, the so called "Treasure of Nimrud," was found in a flooded Central Bank vault on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The artifacts, hundreds of gold and gem-studded pieces from the ancient kingdom of Assyria, were found by U.S. investigators after the vaults below the gutted shell of the looted bank building were drained.
The treasures, which had been discovered between 1988 and 1990 in ancient royal tombs below an Assyrian palace dating from the ninth century BC, had been feared lost. But U.S. investigators learned they had been placed in a central bank vault in the early 1990s, possibly to protect them during the 1991 Gulf War.
"They were never lost," acting Central Bank Governor Faleh Salman told Reuters "We knew all along they were there. It just took a bit of time to get at them because of the flooding."
The U.S. investigators said the Nimrud treasure seemed to be in good condition. In the drained vaults the U.S. team found the bodies of looters apparently killed in a shootout with rival gangs or bank authorities trying to safeguard the treasure.
Most of the media which couldn't wait to blame the U.S. military for the alleged looting, have yet to bother to headline the latest findings as they did with their phony looting stories. After all, it makes the U.S. military look good, just about the last thing the liberal media wants.
"Looted" Museum Treasures Found in Vault
Almost all of those priceless irreplaceable artifacts the media couldn't wait to tell us had been stolen by looters under the eyes of U.S. forces who blithely looked away while they were being stolen had not been taken after all - they were hidden away for safe keeping in a secret vault.
The alleged failure of U.S. forces to prevent the Baghdad Museum being plundered of a reported 170,000 items created a media firestorm, with anti-war journals reporting hysterically that some of history's most important relics had been stolen because the U.S. military was too busy fighting in the streets around the museum to halt the looting.
It now turns out that almost all the important artifacts are safe and sound.
"Earlier this week, 179 boxes that contained the vast majority of the museum's exhibition collection were discovered safe in a secret vault," the Bush administration said in a statement, according to Reuters news agency .
"The discovery of these boxes containing nearly 8,000 of the most important items from the museum's collection means that the work of the investigation team is drawing to a close."
Moreover, it has been shown that many of the items reported looted have been also been found, with some having been taken home by staff for safekeeping, and others hidden elsewhere, including the contents of the secret vault. Reuters says that Museum staff members had at first refused to reveal the location of the vault until U.S. troops had left Iraq, but later relented.
In another find, priceless historical jewelry, the so called "Treasure of Nimrud," was found in a flooded Central Bank vault on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The artifacts, hundreds of gold and gem-studded pieces from the ancient kingdom of Assyria, were found by U.S. investigators after the vaults below the gutted shell of the looted bank building were drained.
The treasures, which had been discovered between 1988 and 1990 in ancient royal tombs below an Assyrian palace dating from the ninth century BC, had been feared lost. But U.S. investigators learned they had been placed in a central bank vault in the early 1990s, possibly to protect them during the 1991 Gulf War.
"They were never lost," acting Central Bank Governor Faleh Salman told Reuters "We knew all along they were there. It just took a bit of time to get at them because of the flooding."
The U.S. investigators said the Nimrud treasure seemed to be in good condition. In the drained vaults the U.S. team found the bodies of looters apparently killed in a shootout with rival gangs or bank authorities trying to safeguard the treasure.
Most of the media which couldn't wait to blame the U.S. military for the alleged looting, have yet to bother to headline the latest findings as they did with their phony looting stories. After all, it makes the U.S. military look good, just about the last thing the liberal media wants.
