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Iraqi archeologists accuse US of 'crime of century'

US sends FBI to find museum looters

AFP, Baghdad
US troops committed the "crime of the century" when they failed to protect priceless Iraqi artifacts from looters and likely trampled archeological sites, top antiquities officials here charged Friday.
"With what I'm expecting has happened in the (archeological) sites in the field and what happened to the Iraq museum, I would say it's the crime of the century because it is really affecting the heritage of mankind," said the head of the National Archaeological Museum in Baghdad, Donny George.
"It looks like there was an action and there were other priorities (for the United States) besides the Baghdad museum," George said as he briefed reporters about the firestorm over the ransacking of the museum last Friday.
US troops who seized the Iraqi capital on April 9 watched as looters carted away artifacts from some of the world's oldest civilizations.
A UN conference held Thursday in Paris to examine the war damage to
Iraq's cultural heritage said much of the looting of the museum was carried out by organised gangs who traffic in works of ancient art.
Experts there said among the items lost was a collection of around 80,000 cuneiform tablets that contain examples of the some of the world's earliest writing. A 5,000-year-old Sumerian alabaster vase -- known as the Warka vase -- also disappeared.
Asked if that meant the US troops were ignorant of the value of the pieces housed in the museum, George answered "perhaps."
Under pressure after the museum looting, the United States has offered to send FBI agents to the Iraqi capital to help with the recovery effort.
The head of President George W. Bush's cultural advisory committee also stepped down Thursday in protest at US failure to stop the pillage.
Traffickers in Iraqi archaeological items have thrived since the 1991 Gulf war thanks to growing international demand and an economic crisis in Iraq which encouraged ordinary people to find innovative new ways to
make money, experts say.
Meanwhile, the United States, under pressure after the looting of Baghdad's main antiquities museum, has sent FBI agents to the Iraqi capital to help recover priceless artifacts.
The head of President George W. Bush's cultural advisory committee stepped down in protest Thursday over the US failure to stop the pillage, adding to international calls for action to protect Iraq's heritage.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Friday that the war in Iraq and the feelings it has stirred in the Islamic world has forced the cancelation or postponement of hundreds of research trips by US scholars to the region.
Experts told the daily it is the greatest interruption of overseas study since World War II.
In some cases, academic institutions or researchers themselves have canceled trips in response to State Department warnings of danger, the Times reported. In other cases, host countries have denied them study permits.