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Sunday, November 13, 2005

Still Looting in Iraq

Date: November 13, 2005
Sent to but not published by the Washington Post

What poverty of imagination bedevils our leaders. Even today more than two years after the end of the Iraq war important archaeological sites are left unprotected (Looted Iraqi relics slow to surface, November 8, 2005, A01). Looters continue to despoil the world's heritage.

We have talked often about winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. What better way of showing our contempt for Iraq's history and demonstrating the uncultivated, unthinking preoccupations of the occupying forces than to ignore the country's cultural heritage.

What better way to show our concern for Iraq's history and its present welfare than to deploy a force of unarmed watchmen to all the Mesopotamia archaeological sites. With the high rates of unemployment in Iraq, I am sure that there would be many recruits for such positions; almost anyone would be hireable; and the sites would represent a beginning of law and order and of cultural appreciation in the region.

Alas our leaders did not have this insight, so  the insurgency grows and the looting continues.

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