Looting Iraq: Past and Present

Museum Director inspects the damage April 12, 2003

Museum worker, April 12, 2003

The British Museum Baked clay foundation cone with cuneiform writing, end of the 3 rd millennium B.C. Musée du Louvre Clay proto-cuneiform tablet with early pictographic writing, end of the 4 th millennium B.C.

Various examples of cuneiform writing from Iraq Museum collection of over 7,000 pieces Uruk III (c BC) Uruk III (c BC) ?

Examples of the over 4,000 Cylindrical seals stolen from Iraq National Museum

Stone stamp seals, Jamdat Naser period, about 3000 B.C. Iraq Museum

Card Catalogue, Iraq National Museum

Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, U.S. Civil Administrator In Iraq

U.S Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

(stolen) Copper head of Goddess of Victory (stolen)

Ivory plaque from Nimrud, beginning of the 1 st millennium B.C. (IM 60555) Iraq Museum

(stolen) Sumerian Plate inlaid with shell (stolen)

Stone figurines from Tell es-Sawwan, beginning of the 6 th millennium B.C. Iraq Museum

Stone Sumerian statue, about 2400 B.C. (IM 55204) Iraq Museum

(stolen) White marble head of Eros-Cherub, from Hatra (stolen)

Sumerian alabaster statue from Ur, about 2400 B.C., Iraq Museum

Stone statue from Hatra, 2 nd century A.D. (IM 58084), Iraq Museum

(stolen) An Ivory Plaque of a lion killing a Nubian, Assyrian from Nimrud, 1x10.5cm base, 9.8 high (stolen)

Terra cotta Sumerian figure from Tello, about 2000 B.C., Iraq Museum

Terra cotta relief: cult scene from Khafaji, about 1800 B.C., Iraq Museum

(stolen) Gray Diorite Statue of Entemena, Sumerian 15x76cm, weighs 150 kg (stolen)

Bronze foundation figurine, end of the 3 rd millennium B.C., Iraq Museum

Panel carved in relief : Assyrian warriors from Khorsabad, end of the 8 th B.C., Iraq Museum

(stolen) Gray Islamic tombstone (stolen)

Islamic glasses: cup (IM 11204) and bottle (IM 11223), 13 th and 9-10th centuries A.D. Iraq Museum

Small alabaster vessels, Tell es-Sawwan, 6 th millennium B.C. -- Iraq Museum

(stolen) Gray stone head of female deity, from Hatra (stolen)

Pottery jar decorated "scarlet ware" from Khafaji, beginning of the 3 rd millennium B.C., Iraq Museum

Jewelry board, Royal Cemetery of Ur, about 2500 B.C. Iraq Museum

(stolen) Stone Assyrian relief fragment from Nineveh, about 700 B.C. (stolen)

Islamic manuscript page in Arabic Iraq Museum

Islamic carved brick architectural decoration (IM A9874) Iraq Museum/Tabbaa

(stolen) White marble head of Apollo, from Hatra (stolen)

Islamic wooden panel Iraq Museum

Islamic coins Iraq Museum

(stolen) A sumerian white marble mask of female deity, life-size, 21.5cm (stolen)

First Floor of Iraq National Library

Second Floor of Iraq National Library

Debris in back of Iraq National Library

Remains of bookshelves from Iraq National Library

Looted archeological site, Ishin Bahryat, Photo by Micah Garen

Italian Police patrol Umma, Iraq. Photo by Micah Garen

Looters running from helicopter at Isin, Jan. 2004

CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN THE EVENT OF ARMED CONFLICT. Done at the Hague, on 14 May 1954

George W. Bush, President of the United States