BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Several hundred ancient artifacts stolen from the Iraqi Museum during the wave of looting that hit Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime have been returned to the museum, officials said Tuesday.
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According to Iraq's minister of culture, Mofeed Al-Jazaeri, those pieces, which consisted mainly of cylinder seals that come from different periods, were smuggled outside Iraq, but were bought and brought to the country by members of the Italian institute.
Thousands of relics were looted from the museum in the chaos after U.S. troops entered the Iraqi capital. The looting and destruction in April triggered deep criticism of U.S. forces both in Iraq and abroad. Museum curators and archaeologists worldwide said the United States should have protected the precious treasures, dating to the earliest days of settled human history.
Al-Jazaeri said that Iraqi authorities were able to recover only 4,000 of the 14,000 treasures thought to have been looted after the fall of Baghdad. He said that preliminary steps have been taken to form a 2,000-member force to protect Iraq archaeological sites from looting.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-antiquity,0,7138269.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlinesThis doesn't seem too earth shaking but I'm posting it because of an impression I've picked up from TV reports. Several have mentioned that nearly all the artifacts have been returned or that not as many as thought had been taken.
Here, Iraq's minister of culture says that 10,000 treasures ARE still missing.