Spoils of war

UNESCO must help recover the looted heritage of Iraq, writes Ibrahim Nafie

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It is a bitter sign of the times when thieves feel confident enough to put their ill-got acquisitions on display. Yet this is precisely what has happened. The plunderers of Iraq's priceless antiquities have organised an exhibition of the spoils they took during the invasion of Iraq and after the fall of the former Iraqi regime.

Soon after the military invasion of Iraq ended the Iraqi people awoke to find that their national museum, which housed thousands upon thousands of artefacts, a living testimony to the many phases of their country's long history and civilisation, had been set upon by thieves and looters. Whoever they were, they raided the museum and seized whatever priceless objects they could carry, and the paintings and statues that were not transportable they broke into portable pieces, heedless of the historical value of what they were carting away.

In the opinion of some Iraqis the fate of their national museum under the occupation tells a story of cultural spoliation more nightmarish than any in modern history. Even at the end of World War II, when Berlin fell to the Allied forces, acts of theft and plunder were stopped and the guns were silenced, allowing the people to go out and bury their dead with the solemnity and dignity they deserved. Not so in Baghdad whose inhabitants still fear for their lives. The gunfire and explosions have never ceased, leaving Iraqis unable to pay due honours to their dead, the numbers of which continue to rise.

Archeology, recently, featured a full- length investigative study on the strangest museum theft in history. The author describes how looters stormed the famous Baghdad Museum, shoved aside the museum staff who had been charged with safeguarding the antiquities when the city was under bombardment, grabbed whatever they could get hold of and proceeded to break larger pieces in to more portable chunks. What was particularly odd was that this rampant looting was taking place beneath the eyes and noses of the invading troops.

Hoards of precious artefacts have long since been smuggled out of Iraq and into any number of nations around the world. Indeed, stolen articles have been displayed for public sale, despite the fact that international law prohibits commerce in important antiquities. Not that international law has ever been a deterrent when it comes to Iraq.

Some believe that the pillage of Iraq's national antiquities museum was planned, that it was a deliberate display of contempt for that nation's culture and history, intended to convey a message to other countries in the region. The contention may never be possible to prove.

What is a known fact, however, is that Iraq's heritage has been scattered around the globe, and something can be done about this. We appeal to the UN to do everything in its power to restore these plundered antiquities to Iraq. Perhaps UNESCO, as the international organisation entrusted with the protection of the world's heritage, is the most appropriate agency to undertake this task. Our hope is that it acts immediately to recover stolen artefacts and repair those that have not been damaged beyond repair. Then they will be able to stand again, where they should, as testimony to the greatness of the ancient civilisations that populated the region.