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OriginsNet BLOG - New Discoveries, New Theories

I find myself deeply grieved at news of the looting and destruction of the National Museum and National Library of Iraq that has taken place under the U.S.occupation. (For details see Iraq War and Archaeology and American Institute of Archaeology websites.)

The National Museum has been the repository of the irreplaceable records and collections of ancient art and artifacts from the country’s Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian civilizations. For over 100 years archaeologists, art historians, curators and scholars from around the world labored with their colleagues in Iraq to excavate and build this collection of over 170,000 artifacts documenting the rise of civilization in the fertile crescent: the birth of pottery and agriculture, the origin of writing, the first poetry, the first written law code, the invention of the wheel, the first cities.

"The ransacking has caused incalculable loss to Iraq’s and the world’s cultural heritage" (Christian Science Monitor, April 14). UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it "a wound inflicted on all humankind" (Yahoo News, Reuters, by Charles Aldinger: Rumsfeld Denies U.S. Blame for Iraq Museum Plunder, April 15).

It is surely the biggest catastrophe to archaeology, art, and our knowledge of the origins of civilization since the burning of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, in 47 B.C. It was the largest repository of the literature of the ancient world. In his battle against Pompey, Julius Caesar burned the Egyptian naval fleet, a fire that spread to the Library. Apparently for the great general it was a thing to be forgotten; he sanitized it from his memoirs. It is because of the burning of the Library of Alexandria that we received but a small fragment of the classical legacy of Athens, Rome and the Near East.

Without a tradition of spiritual values deep enough that they are shared by all religions and all peoples how can we find peace? It was from the city of Ur that Abraham came forth and the religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The primary visible record of the shared foundation of these religions was at the National Museum of Iraq and to a great extent we have lost it.

The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954)—to which the United States is a signatory—states:

• Article 4.3: "The High Contracting Parties further undertake to prohibit, prevent, and, if necessary, put a stop to any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism directed against, cultural property."
• Article 5.1. "Any High Contracting Party in occupation of the whole or part of the territory of another High Contracting Party shall as far as possible support the competent national authorities of the occupied country in safeguarding and preserving its cultural property."
• Article 5.2 "should the competent national authorities be unable to take such measures, the Occupying Power shall as far as possible, and in close-cooperation with such authorities, take the most necessary measures of preservation."

Despite worldwide appeals and warnings prior to the war about the importance of protecting the cultural treasures of Iraq from looting, President George Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apparently did nothing to stop it. After it happened they denied responsibility and minimized the loss and its importance to all cultures.

• April 11. Donald Rumsfeld describes looting in Baghdad as an "untidy" matter and blamed media for breaking the news about the looting of the national Museum. (Yahoo, Reuters, Rumsfeld says Iraq Looting Unfortunate. April 11).
• April 13. When asked about the looting of the national Museum, Donald Rumsfeld replied "I do not have information on that." (Yahoo, Reuters, by Vicki Allen: Rumsfeld Says Order Gradually Returning to Iraq, April 13)
• April 13. George Bush confronted with the fact of looting in Baghdad could only say "'Oh, there's disorder.' Well, no kidding!" (Yahoo, Reuters, by Vicki Allen: Bush, Rumsfeld: Order Gradually Returning to Iraq, April 13)
• April 15. Asked about the looting of the national Museum and destruction of the national Library, Donald Rumsfeld said: "Its like a riot after a football game. No one likes it. Its unfortunate." He offered no apology for the failure of U.S. troops to protect these cultural sites. In fact, he says: "To my knowledge, US ground troops were not encouraged to give the museum special protection." (Yahoo, AFP: Looting of Baghdad museum like post-game riot: Rumsfeld, April 15)
• To date, two weeks after the looting neither George Bush nor Donald Rumsfeld have given one word of apology. George Bush has not once acknowledged in public that anything happened.

It doesn’t matter if it was an act of omission or commission; the Occupying Power is responsible.

Is it a war crime? a crime against humanity? or cultural genocide? George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld must be held accountable before the tribunals of international law and justice under the conventions of war to which they are a signatory.