News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		9-5-2003 Scotsman Museum staff used secret hiding places to safeguard artefacts By Gethin Chamberlain IT WAS spoken of as one of the great outrages of the war in Iraq, a crime against humanity in general, an affront to civilisation and proof positive that the United States was a nation of barbarians who cared nothing for the culture of the country they had invaded. As the US forces rolled into the Iraqi capital, thousands of irreplaceable artefacts were said to have been stolen from the National Museum of Baghdad by looters who destroyed what they could not carry. Academics and cultural commentators lambasted the US authorities for standing by while one of the Middle East's leading archaeological collections was ransacked. Thirty of the world's most eminent cultural experts met in Paris to discuss what could be done. Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, a Tory peer and a leading archaeologist, said it was little short of disgraceful. But yesterday, it emerged that many of the priceless artefacts may not have been stolen at all, but moved to vaults by museum staff before the start of the war to safeguard them from thieves and coalition bombing. The US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that it appeared that far fewer items were missing than had originally been feared. Others which had been stolen, including almost 40,000 manuscripts and 700 artefacts, had since been recovered, it said. Among the artefacts handed in were a clay pot dating back to 5000BC and an inscribed cornerstone from King Nebuchadnezzar's seventh-century BC Babylon palace. Establishing the truth about what is really missing has been made more difficult by the lack of cooperation between the US authorities and the museum curators, who have been reluctant to produce a comprehensive list explaining where each item had been stored. The situation has been further complicated by suspicions among US investigators that some museum staff may have been implicated in the organised theft of a number of high-value items. The US attorney general, John Ashcroft, suggested the looters included criminals who knew what they were looking for, and where to find it. Other US officials have pointed the finger at museum staff. Although looters did get into the main parts of the museum, it has emerged that many, if not all, the display cases had been emptied before the start of the war, with the most valuable items removed to safe hiding places. There are suggestions that many artefacts were stored in vaults under the headquarters of the city's Central Bank of Iraq. Many of those items have now been recovered. .
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