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.