"Museum looted during fall of Baghdad opens; Restoration a milestone, Maliki says" by Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press | February 24, 2009
BAGHDAD - Iraq's restored National Museum reopened yesterday with a red-carpet gala in the heart of Baghdad, nearly six years after looters carried away priceless antiquities as US troops largely stood by during the chaos as the city fell to American forces.
Part of BREAKING the PROUD IRAQI SPIRIT and ROBBING THEM of THEIR HISTORY!!!
The ransacking of the museum became a symbol for critics of Washington's post-invasion strategy and its inability to maintain order as Saddam Hussein's police and military unraveled. But Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, chose to look ahead. He called the reopening another milestone in Baghdad's slow return to stability after years of bloodshed.
Except for the bombings, checkpoint shootings, house raids, torture, etc.
"It was a dark age that Iraq passed through," the prime minister said at a dedication ceremony after walking down a red carpet into the museum. "This spot of civilization has had its share of destruction."
Somehow that butcher Saddam protected the goods!
The museum - which holds artifacts from the Stone Age through the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods - will be open to the public starting today but only for organized tours at first, officials said.
"We have ended the black wind [of violence] and have started the reconstruction process," Maliki told hundreds of officials and guardians of Iraq's rich cultural heritage.
Except for the water, sewers, and electric grids!
Once the home of one of the world's leading collections of artifacts, the museum fell victim to bands of armed thieves who rampaged through the capital after the Americans captured Baghdad in April 2003. It was among many institutions looted across Iraq, including universities, hospitals and cultural offices. But the richness of the museum's collection - and its importance as the caretaker of Iraq's historical identity - led to an outcry around the world.
U.S. LET IT HAPPEN because they PROTECTED the OIL MINISTRY!!!!
US troops, the sole power in the city at the time, were intensely criticized for not protecting the treasures at the museum and other cultural institutions like the national library and the Saddam Art Center, a museum of modern Iraqi art.
Oh, you are KIDDING? I guess JEW ART is the ONLY IMPORTANT WORK, huh?
And WHO NEEDS BOOKS NOW, huh?
When asked at the time why US troops did not actively seek to stop the lawlessness, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld famously said: "Stuff happens . . . and it's untidy and freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."
Yeah, I just wish the GOVERNMENT would REMEBER THAT -- even thought THEY are the LOOTING, MURDERING CRIMINALS!!!!!!
Others claimed the US troops did not have a mandate to act from Washington.
They DIDN'T HAVE a MANDATE to INVADE, either, but they DID ANYWAY!!!
About 15,000 artifacts were stolen from the museum, and the lead US investigator said last year that trafficking in those items helped finance Al Qaeda in Iraq as well as Shi'ite militias.
Oh, they HELPED FUND "Al-CIA-Duhs," huh?
Yeah, I GUESS WE DO KNOW WHOM the TERRORISTS ARE, huh?
Eventually, about 8,500 items were recovered in an international effort that included culture ministries across the region, Interpol, museum curators and auction houses. Jordan, Syria and Egypt were among countries which returned stolen objects to Baghdad, the scientific and literary hub of the Arab world in the 8th and 9th centuries.
Oh, so ABOUT 7,000 items are STILL MISSING, huh?
Yeah, what a SUCCESS considering those treasures had been PRESERVED for CENTURIES no matter WHICH EMPIRE OCCUPIED -- UNTIL NOW!!!
You PROUD of YOURSELVES, shit-chomping 'murka!!!!
Of the roughly 7,000 pieces still missing, about 40 to 50 are considered to be of great historical importance, according to the UN cultural body UNESCO.
They ALL ARE IMPORTANT!!
It could have been worse. Iraqi officials closed the museum several weeks before the US-led invasion and hid some particularly important artifacts at secret locations to prevent their theft.
The most valuable and unique pieces belonging to the collection, including two small winged bulls and statues from the Assyrian and Babylonian periods more than 2,000 years ago, were on display yesterday. Others remained locked away.
Abdul-Zahra al-Talqani, the media director of Iraq's office of tourism and archaeology affairs, said it was more a matter of space than security because only eight of 23 halls have been renovated.
More artifacts will be put on display as other halls are opened, he said, adding that museum officials were waiting for more government funding. Initially only organized tours for students and other groups will be allowed to enter but the doors will eventually open to individual visitors.
Talqani said he was confident in the security measures taken to protect the museum, although he declined to be more specific. "We expect no security problems and hope everything will run smoothly," he said.
Assyrian wall panels depicting human-headed winged bulls connected two halls. Other halls contained Islamic mosaics, a marble sun dial and glass cases displaying silver jewelry and daggers. One was devoted to looted antiquities that had been recovered, including vases and pottery jars, some broken, as well as statues of small animals, necklaces, and cylinders.
It sounds like it WAS a GREAT PLACE to VISIT!!
Much better than the McHolohoax™ museums around here!
--more--"
Oh, yeah, and about how GREAT everything is in Iraq!
"3 US soldiers and interpreter killed north of Baghdad" by Kim Gamel, Associated Press | February 24, 2009
BAGHDAD - Three US soldiers and an interpreter were killed yesterday during fighting north of Baghdad, the military announced.
The combat took place in Diyala Province, an area northeast of Baghdad that remains volatile despite an overall drop in violence nationwide.
At least, that's what the same media who lied you into this fiasco and never stopped lying about it says.
The statement did not provide more details. The attack came two weeks after a suicide car bomber struck a US patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing four American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter in the deadliest single attack against US forces in nine months.
At least 4,250 members of the US military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
ALL for a LIE!!!!!!
Iraq's Interior Ministry, meanwhile, announced the arrest of a Shi'ite police gang accused of killing the Sunni vice president's sister in 2006 as part of a string of kidnappings and slayings....
Those the guys who will attack tomorrow, right? Talk about setting up straw men patsies!
Also yesterday, gunmen ambushed an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding eight people, according to police.
GUNMEN, huh?
And in central Baghdad, a roadside bombing apparently targeting a police patrol killed at least two civilians and wounded six, said police and hospital officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
--more--"
Yeah, Iraq is just great.
All this time and "Al-CIA-Duh" still isn't dead?
Sigh!
