One of the big prices that we have paid in the war on Iraq has been the invaluable treasures that have been stolen from Baghdad’s National Museum of Antiquities. Archaeologists in the United States consider the museum to be among the 10 most important museums in the world.

The museum maintained a collection of antiquities dating back some 5,000 years.

Among the almost 170,000 pieces of art missing is a 4,300-year-old bronze mask of an Akkadian king, a small limestone statuette of a prince circa 3300 B.C., expensive jewelry from the royal tombs of Ur dating to 2500 B.C., a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era, a series of small ivories dating to the eighth century B.C., second-century B.C. Parthian sculptures from Hatra and a collection of around 80,000 cuneiform tablets that contain examples of some of the world’s earliest writing.

While the U.S. military deserves full credit for its swift military action, it could have easily done more to stop the looting and to protect the museum, just as it posted Army patrols to protect the National Ministry of Oil in Baghdad. The military’s inaction clearly was not a choice between protecting civilians and protecting the museum. The Chicago Tribune reported that the U.S. military assigned men to chip away the disrespectful mural of former President George Bush on the floor of the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, yet failed to save the matchless legacy of the museum.

In a recent news conference, Donald Rumsfeld appeared genuinely annoyed to even answer questions about the ransacking, and instead chose to put the blame on Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime, saying that the looting was a natural reaction of people who have been oppressed for years.

Such a careless remark only goes to highlight the indifferent attitude of the administration towards anything other than military objectives.

Prasanna Padmanabhan

Alumnus