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| The reported looting of the famous Iraq Museum during the recent Gulf War was one of the many shocking events of that time. Dan Cruickshank makes a return visit to the museum, and finds that some treasures may, after all, be recovered. |  Dan Cruickshank
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I returned to Iraq in mid April 2003, hoping to discover what had happened to the country's museums and archaeological sites during the recent war - and to discuss events with Iraqis I had met during my visit to the country during November last year.
'As Baghdad fell to the US Army, on 9 and 10 April, however, it seemed something had gone horribly wrong.'
My first point of call was the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. In 2002, the museum's Dr Donny George told me that his staff was taking every precaution to protect the museum's contents in the event of war. All large artefacts were to be protected in situ - as far as possible - from bomb or missile attack, with smaller items put into secure storage.
As Baghdad fell to the US Army, on 9 and 10 April, however, it seemed something had gone horribly wrong. By 14 April newspapers around the world were carrying stories about appalling destruction. Museum staff told journalists that 170,000 items had disappeared. It seemed the unimaginable had happened. One of the most important museums on earth had been obliterated.
Urban civilisation, writing, arts and crafts - as well as technological innovations such as the wheel and mathematics - had all started in ancient Mesopotamia 7,000 years ago. And now many of the expression of these momentous developments were dispersed or vandalised. How had this catastrophe happened?
The vast importance of Iraq's cultural heritage was well recognised by the coalition forces, and they had been instructed to avoid damage to Iraq's cultural institutions - so the finger of blame was speedily pointed at the US forces who had captured Baghdad. Iraqi museum officials led the cry of accusation, and their stories soon appeared in the media.
'since last November three bunkers had been dug in the museum garden'
The basic facts are not in dispute, but the implications of these facts can be read in significantly different ways. What is sure is that at 11am on 8 April Dr George, Dr Jaber Khalil Ibrahim (the head of the museum) and Dr Nawala al-Mutawalli (the curator in charge of its collections) locked the museum and fled, because, said Dr George, they realised the museum could become the scene of fighting as the US tanks advanced.
When asked why a recognised cultural site should become a battleground, Dr George said Iraqi militia were running for cover in the museum grounds - although this was not, he insisted, part of a prepared plan, as the museum was not a prepared military position. Although I could see that since last November three bunkers had been dug in the museum garden, sandbagged firing posts had been built in the grounds, and various shallow pits excavated which looked like locations for mortars, Dr George insisted these were all part of the museum's air-raid precautions.
Fighting did indeed take place around the museum, but by the end of 9 April the museum, and the entire quarter of Baghdad where it stood, was under US control. On 10 April the US tanks moved on and the museum was abandoned to its fate. What happened during the next three days is hotly debated, but it seems clear it was entered and items were stolen. Dr George claims that on 11 April he pleaded with the US Army to return to the museum, but they did not. By 13 April, museum staff had returned to the museum and regained limited control, and on 16 April the US Army finally posted guards at the museum.
The museum contained three distinctly different types of space. First there were the museum offices and conservation rooms, with safes containing museum money and the keys to various storerooms, and much office equipment. Then there were five storerooms placed around the museum. These contained reserve collections, items of the greatest value, and valuable items from the display cases in the museum. These stores were meant to be secured but one was open, the locks on its door undamaged, while the battle for the museum was taking place. Last, there were the museum galleries. These contained several hundred large items, protected with sandbags or foam, thought too heavy to steal.
'Here, junior museum staff revealed, there was a Ba'ath Party security department that watched - and punished - staff members. '
These three spaces had been attacked in ways suggesting very different types of looters. The offices had been attacked savagely - for the same reason many other offices in Baghdad were attacked. Yes, the people wanted office equipment and other things they could sell - but also they wanted to take revenge on the regime. The Iraq Museum was a government institution, and run by Saddam's Ba'ath Party. Here, junior museum staff revealed, there was a Ba'ath Party security department that watched - and punished - staff members.
The museum galleries were treated very differently. Clearly they had been broken into, but the interiors were not vandalised. It was nothing like the attack on the offices. None of the artefacts they contained were wantonly destroyed, although some were grievously damaged as easily transportable portions were cut off.
Only the museum staff knows what was in the galleries when the war started. The claim that 170,000 items were destroyed or looted has long been abandoned, and reduced considerably. Also, many items have been recovered. Museum staff say that only 33 major items, and around 2,100 minor items, are missing, while 15 major items in the galleries were seriously damaged. These include the famous 4,500-year-old-harp from Ur, with its fabulous golden bull's head.
'...this is a theft that would have taken careful organisation and the provision of lifting gear and transport - and no witnesses to the thefts have come forward. '
Most of these missing 33 items had been left in the museum galleries, although some were quite small, as well as highly valuable, and should have been put in secure store. The exquisite, missing, 5,000-year-old marble head of the lady of Warka - arguably the earliest portrait of a living person - was easy to store but, according to some accounts, was one of the items left in the galleries. Other reports suggest that the head was placed in a secure store but - strangely - thieves were able to find her.
Two world-famous pieces - the 15,000-year-old vase from Warka, and the 4,250 year old bronze Basetki statue base - were large and so were definitely left in the galleries. There is physical evidence to support their recent removal, but this is a theft that would have taken careful organisation and the provision of lifting gear and transport - and no witnesses to the thefts have come forward.
The storerooms tell a different story again. For many weeks outside observers were kept from seeing them. Dr Jabir would only say they had been looted. Even Matthew Bogdanos, the New York District Attorney and US Marine colonel based at the museum, and heading an investigation into its looting, had trouble gaining access, as US policy was to co-operate with the Iraqi museum authorities, and not to behave in too heavy-handed a manner. Bogdanos operated with admirable restraint, considering the US Army was being increasingly held responsible for what had happened at the museum, but it was clearly in his interest to establish how much had been destroyed, who had conducted the thefts, and how to track down and recover stolen items.
Having persuaded museum staff to allow me access to the five on-site storerooms, we all had something of a surprise. Three were still locked, and looked untouched. The remaining two had been entered, with one not even having been locked. These storerooms were generally not ransacked, but clearly some items had been stolen. It seems that the thieves knew where the most precious objects were, and had made straight for them.
'The precision of the thieves' actions suggests either that they were professional criminals, or that the thefts were to some degree an inside job.'
The precision of the thieves' actions suggests either that they were professional criminals, or that the thefts were to some degree an inside job. Keys had obviously been obtained - whether stolen, handed over under duress, or being used by renegade staff - because they were found in the storerooms. The story of the thousands of gold and silver Greek, Roman and Muslim coins is incredible - they were kept in locked cabinets in a storeroom, and the thieves seem to have obtained keys, and made straight for them. However, it seems the keys were dropped and lost, and the coin collection remains intact. The keys were found - near the cabinets - by US investigators.
The unlocked storeroom held an equally strange secret - the parts of a machine gun, a hand grenade and a box containing an Iraqi rocket-propelled-grenade were found there. Clearly during the battle for the museum this storeroom - with its high level slit-windows opening on to the street - had been used as a fighting position. How had the Iraqi soldiers got in - did the museum staff let them in? It's not clear, but certainly this use of a storeroom compromised the museum's status as a cultural building.
This discovery does seem to confirm the account of the fight for the museum given by US troops who had been engaged in the action. Rather than being a neutral cultural complex, they found it to be a well fortified fighting position manned by around 150 Iraqis, including the Republican Guard. The US tanks had been fired on from the museum and had returned fire. It was because the museum had been used as a strong point in the battle for that quarter of the city that guards were not posted around it immediately.
The different fates suffered by the different types of museum buildings have led Colonel Bogdanos to speculate on the types of thieves who were operating. In his report 'Antiquity Loss in Iraq' he says there were informed individuals looking for key items from the public galleries. The evidence in the storerooms, 'strongly suggests that this magazine was...entered not by random looters but by thieves with an intimate knowledge of the museum and its storage practices...whether that knowledge came because it was an employee, or from information obtained from an employee, we are not able to say at this point.' He also identifies a class of indiscriminate looters.
'...they did not want to return the contents to the museum while the existing Ba'ath party hierarchy remained in charge.'
In the course of my trip, US forces showed me a bomb shelter that contained over 300 metal cases from the museum, packed with 40,000 precious books and manuscripts. The store was well prepared and protected, and its guardians said they did not want to return the contents to the museum while the existing Ba'ath party hierarchy remained in charge.
I also went to the vaults of the Central Bank of Iraq. The museum staff said that during the years following the first Gulf War, 20 cases had been deposited in the vault. I was told these contained 7,000 of the museum's most precious and vulnerable objects - including the treasure from Nimrud, the jewellery from the royal tombs at Ur, and the 4,500-year-old golden bull's head from the Harp of Ur.
I was also told that the bank vault had been raided during the last days of the regime by one of Saddam's sons, and the bank building had then been destroyed by US missiles, leading to the vaults being flooded. When I went to see them, however, the vaults looked intact and the doors still locked - but the Iraqi guardians of the vaults at first refused to open them. Eventually they relented, and so far five cases have been found and key treasures identified - including the Nimrud treasure and the golden bull's head from Ur.
'What actually survives at the museum could take years to establish'
What actually survives at the museum could take years to establish - and it does seem that some of the thefts were to some degree an inside job. In addition, it seems likely that certain items could have been removed from the museum years ago by members of the Ba'ath Party. Museum staff may not have been involved, would have been powerless to stop it, and could now be ashamed of their failure to protect national treasures. This could explain why many staff members give contradictory accounts of what has gone on - they are attempting to use the confusion created by the current looting to disguise old losses. The fog of war can sometimes be very convenient.
The British government, the British Museum and UNESCO are all now offering help to the Iraq Museum. It seems to me that they should be very cautious. The museum is too important to the Iraqi people - to us all - to be left in the hands of people whose past is murky and mysterious. An International Commission must be established to secure the museum and to plan its future.
Books
A History of Iraq by Charles Tripp (Cambridge University Press, 2002)
Mesopotamia by Julian Reade (British Museum Press, 1991)
Babylonians by HWF Saggs (British Museum Press, 2000)
Mesopotamian Myths by Henrietta McCall (British Museum Press, 1990)
The British Museum [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/] , Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Telephone: 020 7323 8000. The British Museum holds a collection of art and antiquities from ancient and living cultures. Housed in one of Britain's architectural landmarks, the collection spans two million years of human history.
Musée du Louvre [http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm] , 75058 Paris. Tel. (33) 01 40 20 50 50. Fax (33) 01 40 20 54 42. One of the oldest museums in Europe. The collections span millennia, dating from the birth of the great antique civilisations right up to the first half of the 19th century.
Published on BBC History: 2003-06-09
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