Guardian comes clean on bogus museum looting scandal

[link|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,974193,00.html|Okay, they're not all inimically hostile to truth there]

Excerpt:

So, there's the picture: 100,000-plus priceless items looted either under the very noses of the Yanks, or by the Yanks themselves. And the only problem with it is that it's nonsense. It isn't true. It's made up. It's bollocks.

Not all of it, of course. There was some looting and damage to a small number of galleries and storerooms, and that is grievous enough. But over the past six weeks it has gradually become clear that most of the objects which had been on display in the museum galleries were removed before the war. Some of the most valuable went into bank vaults, where they were discovered last week. Eight thousand more have been found in 179 boxes hidden "in a secret vault". And several of the larger and most remarked items seem to have been spirited away long before the Americans arrived in Baghdad.

George is now quoted as saying that that items lost could represent "a small percentage" of the collection and blamed shoddy reporting for the exaggeration.

"There was a mistake," he said. "Someone asked us what is the number of pieces in the whole collection. We said over 170,000, and they took that as the number lost. Reporters came in and saw empty shelves and reached the conclusion that all was gone. But before the war we evacuated all of the small pieces and emptied the showcases except for fragile or heavy material that was difficult to move."

Post #105,525 by marlowe 6/10/03 12:32:03 PM Reply	Guardian comes clean on bogus museum looting scandal [link\|http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,974193,00.html\|Okay, they're not all inimically hostile to truth there] Excerpt: So, there's the picture: 100,000-plus priceless items looted either under the very noses of the Yanks, or by the Yanks themselves. And the only problem with it is that it's nonsense. It isn't true. It's made up. It's bollocks. Not all of it, of course. There was some looting and damage to a small number of galleries and storerooms, and that is grievous enough. But over the past six weeks it has gradually become clear that most of the objects which had been on display in the museum galleries were removed before the war. Some of the most valuable went into bank vaults, where they were discovered last week. Eight thousand more have been found in 179 boxes hidden "in a secret vault". And several of the larger and most remarked items seem to have been spirited away long before the Americans arrived in Baghdad. George is now quoted as saying that that items lost could represent "a small percentage" of the collection and blamed shoddy reporting for the exaggeration. "There was a mistake," he said. "Someone asked us what is the number of pieces in the whole collection. We said over 170,000, and they took that as the number lost. Reporters came in and saw empty shelves and reached the conclusion that all was gone. But before the war we evacuated all of the small pieces and emptied the showcases except for fragile or heavy material that was difficult to move." ---------------------------------------------------------------- DEAL WITH IT. I helped depose Saddam. Did you? When the facts speak for themselves, only a fool insists on having a debate. The future is leaving the station, the US is at the throttle, and the Left isn't on board. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
Post #105,531 by jbrabeck 6/10/03 1:07:48 PM Reply	Still waiting for answer I helped depose Saddam. What unit? What location? What rank? So far, all you've said it that you continued to go to your cushy job. BFD. When they took the Fourth Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the Fifth Amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent. When they took the Second Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun. Now they've taken the First Amendment, and I can't say anything about it.
Post #105,552 by lincoln 6/10/03 2:10:01 PM Reply	You're just a little late... As it was reported here over a month ago: [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=100388\|post] lincoln "Four score and seven years ago, I had a better sig" [link\|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/resume.htm\|VB/SQL resume] [link\|http://users3.ev1.net/~bconnors/tandem_resume.htm\|Tandem resume] [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me]

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