"If there were five American soldiers at the door, everything would have been fine," Amin said about the museum. "They're supposed to be here to protect us. They should be protecting us."

U.S. military commanders contend they are doing as much as they can to stem the thievery. But they acknowledge they do not have enough troops to patrol every looting-prone part of the city while also focusing on stamping out lingering pockets of resistance and guarding against suicide attacks.

Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries -- including trade, information, planning, health and education -- remain unprotected.

"Why just the oil ministry?" Jaf asked. "Is it because they just want our oil?"

[link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15136-2003Apr12.html|http://www.washingto...36-2003Apr12.html]

First things first, eh?

The survival of the Oil Ministry demonstrates conclusively that the museum could have been spared had the occupation forces given it a thought. We are utterly complicit in this massive vandalism.

cordially,