Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Let me give this a whack:
A member of the Bush administration that was knowledgeable on such matters urged DOD to protect the museum . . . he probably said something like, "there are hundreds of thousands of priceless artifacts that must be protected." This same official subsequently resigned in protest of DOD in action.
On the ground in Iraq, knowledgeable curators thought to themselves, "when this goes down . . . these people are going to steal everything all the way down to the lightswitch . . . I bet the Iraqis might do it, too
." Accordingly, they tried to secure as many pieces as possible . . . in places like shelters, the Bank, etc.
Of course the Bushies knew nothing of this b/c . . . they called every minister and military commander in Iraq but calling a museum in the cradle of civilization was not a priority.
After the regime was subdued . . . the "untidiness" began in earnest. The curators in Iraq again begged for protection and received none while looters pillaged what was "left" in the museum . . . say less than 10% of the museums original contents. Once US authorities arrive on the scene the question become who is in charge and what do they know. If they asked the wrong person (not privy to the stash the booty plan) we get a report that hundreds of thousands of items have been stolen. Later the US begins to float the idea that it might have been an inside job b/c the most important items were taken and possibly taken before the fall of Baghdad . . . hmmm. Eventually a knowledgeable person arrives and tells the US, "we stashed this stuff before it got bad . . . most of it is in the Bank or shelters . . . but everything that was left in the museum was taken."
The US version becomes, "majority of stolen artifacts found by
US forces and returned to museum."
The take home is that the US was a day late and dollar short throughout the episode . . . akin to the gross lack of intelligence on WMD, Ba'ath activities, and the crappy state of Iraqi infrastructure. The Iraqis apparently did a great job (considering the conditions) protecting the majority of these treasures. Unfortunately, US authorities did a pitiful job protecting what was left.