Iraqis accuse U.S. of `crime of the century'

Iraqis accuse U.S. of `crime of the century'

Agencies, Baghdad/Washington/Paris

U.S. 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 on 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 on last Friday.

U.S. troops who seized the Iraqi capital on April 9 watched as
looters carted away artifacts from some of the world's oldest
civilizations.

A United Nations conference held on 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 organized 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 U.S. 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 FBI interrogated nearly 10,000 Iraqis for information to
help in the war against Iraq, and its agents are now working to
help recover looted antiquities and to analyze documents found
there, the bureau's director said on Thursday.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told a news conference the FBI had
questioned about 10,000 Iraqis living in the United States in an
effort to obtain information and to prevent terror attacks on the
United States.

The head of President George W. Bush's cultural advisory
committee also stepped down on Thursday in protest at U.S.
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 international police organization said on
Friday that Interpol is sending a special team to Iraq to help in
the effort to recover pillaged art treasures.

It called on everyone involved in the conservation and trade
of antiquities "to categorically decline any offers of cultural
property originating from Iraq."

The Lyon-based organization said in a statement that it
planned a special meeting on May 5 and May 6 to devise a strategy
to quickly deal with recovering the thousands of objects stolen
from Iraqi museums and libraries during a looting spree. The
meeting is to bring together officials from UNESCO, the
International Council of Museums and the World Customs
Organization, among others.

The Interpol statement said a special team of senior officers
would go to Kuwait and other countries in the region later this
month seeking information from governments and police on what had
been stolen.

"The team will travel to Iraq as soon as this can be arranged
with military officials," the statement said.

Interpol has already alerted police in its 181 member
countries to make sure that everyone from border guards to art
dealers and even the public is aware of the situation, the
statement added.