Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilization, where ancient city-states laid their foundations in the Fertile Crescent. Evidence of such historical evolvement has been excavated in modern day southern Iraq and housed in the National Iraqi Museum - first opened in 1966.

But in April 2003 a tidal wave of disaster swept through Baghdad city as the US-led coalition forces entered, toppling the ruling of Saddam Hussein. Chaos engulfed the city, and with ministries, historical libraries and agencies set on fire, unguarded, the National Iraqi Museum became a target for impoverished looters and organized thieves, stripping it of its 170,000 artefacts; the oldest known to humankind.

History

During the British occupation, Gertrude Bell, a British intelligence agent, archaeologist and writer, began collecting artefacts excavated by British and US archeologists, in an attempt to save them from leaving Iraq. In 1922, she moved the collection into a government building in Baghdad and became Baghdad Antiquities Museum's director four years later. As the collection grew, in 1966 it was moved into a 45,000-square-metre, two-storey establishment in Al-Karkh district of Baghdad, where it remained until April 2003 and the looting began.

The treasures ebbed within 48 hours

Those of us who weren't trapped in the conflict on the break of dawn on Thursday 8th April 2003, watched the city being ransacked on television. While we saw the poor and unknowledgeable mob carrying away what they could; a more organised, crafty, and well-trained gang of thieves crept away with the big prizes in the shadows of the unprotected museum.
'Only the masterpieces were moved into the Central Bank prior to 2003. And the only things that remained during the looting were the heavier, bigger pieces that the looters were unable to carry. But this is not mainly why they didn't take them, as they have looted artefacts that weigh over half a ton. The thing is, they knew exactly what they were looking for,' Dr. Ahmed Kamil, a highly ranked museum official and an archeologist, told IC Iraq.
Donny George Youkhanna was the director of the museum in 2003. Later, in 2006, he had to flee the country after death threats were made to him and his family. He remembers those awful two days in detail: 'I saw everything as an eye witness,' he said in a lecture on June 9, 2005.
Youkhanna, along with two others, were trapped inside the museum for three days while chaos raged outside its walls. They planned to seek refuge in the storeroom but decided against it as they spotted armed men on the museum's lawns, blocking their route.
It is unknown who entered and ravaged the museum first, but glasscutters found on the museum's floor suggest that the robbery was planned. Carrying away rare Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections, they also knew where to find them. Some shattered the doors to seek entrance while others destroyed stoneware, ceramics, figurines, archives and vital documents. Those scenes were some of the most devastating moments that the world witnessed, reducing many Iraqis into tears. 'People thought it all belonged to Saddam, so out of revenge, they smashed things up,' explained Dr. Kamil.
Some of the plundered artefacts were Islamic paintings, wooden door panels from Samarra, ivory, cuneiform tablets, a solid gold harp and a sculptured head of a woman from Uruk.
'It looks as if part of the theft was a very, very deliberate, planned action,' said McGuire Gibson, president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad.
While the artefacts left in the museum were looted, those that had been sent to the Central Bank for safe keeping suffered from fungus and wet wrapping as a result of the flooding caused by the bombing impact.
Also, according to Zainab Bahrani's essay, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology at Columbia University, 'The fall of Babylon', 'between May and August 2004, the wall of the Temple of Nabu and the roof of the Temple of Ninmah, both of the sixth century B.C., collapsed as a result of the helicopters.'
Mohsen Hassan, the museum's deputy curator, reported that 'more than 170,000 objects were taken. 'A fuller picture later emerged as officials adjusted the details of the rampage and revealed that looters had plundered over 15,000 antiquities from the Museum, 5,000 of them were listed as 'most precious objects', including jewelry and figurines.

Controversy

Youkhanna explained that on April 13, 2003, he and other staff members of the museum approached US troops to urge them to protect the museum. Tanks rolled in three days later. By then, the museum was an empty shell.
Youkhanna later accused US troops of 'the crime of the century' as they stood back and allowed the pillage. US troops were heavily criticized and archaeologists all over the world raged at the US army officials as their pleading letters prior to the start of the war, warning them about the museum's vulnerability, were dismissed.
Dr. Bruce Craig, the Director of National Coalition for History later wrote saying that 'General Richard Myers, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later stated that protection of the museum had been considered but it was assigned less importance than ongoing combat operations; that the military had acted first to secure oil wells, dams, and other critical sites ahead of the troops' main advance, and that once in the city, Coalition forces placed a priority on securing the oil ministry offices to keep looters there at bay.'
The Guardian newspaper reported that 'the US military argues that its primary job in the first few days was to quell armed resistance in Baghdad, and that it could not tackle looters until it had finished fighting a war.'
The issue resulted in to the resignation of Martin Sullivan, the chair of President Bush's Advisory Committee on Cultural Property.

Recovery process

London-based daily Al-Hayat reported that Widah Na'srat of the Interior Ministry's Criminal Investigations Department told Al-Hayat that 'among these precious artefacts are Babylonian-era Torah manuscripts, which were taken by the US forces in 2003. The US promised it would return them in two years after their renovation, but there is information pointing to the possibility that they had been smuggled to Israel.' Nas'rat indicated that he would travel to Washington soon in order to investigate the matter further. He also said that 'the US has expressed its willingness to continue cooperating with the Iraqis in a serious manner in order to return the missing artefacts.'
'At the end of last year, Iraq's ambassador in Washington received 1,046 artefacts, which were stolen from the National museum in Baghdad,' the paper wrote.
Dr. Bruce Craig detailed on his report for History News Network that 'on 14th April 2003, over 250 scholars petitioned the United Nations urging measures be implemented for the safeguarding of Iraqi cultural heritage.' He also added that 'the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also quickly acted. UNESCO called an emergency meeting in Paris to begin to assess the damage and attempt to inventory missing or destroyed antiquities. Interpol was also alerted and requested to enforce the 1970 UNESCO Convention strictures prohibiting the illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property. Several international non-governmental bodies such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) issued statements warning art dealers, auction houses, collectors, and museums against acquisition of objects that belong to the Iraqi heritage.'
An FBI team was sent from the United States to investigate claims that some items may have been stolen to order. Working with international law enforcement agencies, art collectors, auctioneers and experts from around the world.
Museum-Security.org quoted Lynne Chaffinch, manager of the FBI Art Theft Program, that she told reporters that 'thieves usually attempted to sell stolen art and artefacts on the legal market. The FBI would hear about a suspect piece from a dealer or expert, then dispatch an undercover agent to contact the seller,' she said.
Slowly the artefacts began to be traced and recovered. The first was the Warka vase, returned by some Iraqi men. It was slightly damaged from the result of malicious looting. Then on July 25, 2006 the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the recovery of the statue of King Entemena of Lagash. It was returned to the Government of Iraq at a ceremony in Washington, DC.
UNESCO and Interpol have reportedly seized stolen artefacts in Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, US and Italy. Al-Dustor in Jordan reported that Jordanian customs officials had seized 42 paintings believed to have been looted from the Iraqi National Museum. According to the report, 'A group of journalists had tried to carry the paintings across the Karameh border post earlier this week, but they were discovered by officials and sent to the main customs department in Amman.'
'Interpol would send us pictures of the artefacts and we would identify and match them to the missing artefacts on our database,' explained Dr. Kamil, who has been helped by conservators and curators from the British Museum and a team of Italian experts.
'The artefacts that were looted and remained inside Iraq were returned by normal Iraqi citizens - some out of remorse, others in response to rewards and a no-questions-asked policy. Other people bought artefacts from the souk and returned them to us,' said Dr. Kamil.
To date the whole, Iraq has so far recovered 6000 out of the 15,000 stolen artefacts.

The real Indiana Jones

During the early days of the hunt, Iraqi students, artists and educated individuals vowed to return the artefacts to the Iraqi National Museum. 'When the looters came, they broke this statue in half, while pushing others that fell and broke into pieces too,' said Dr. Kamil. 'A group of students witnessed the incident and tried to put the statue back together. But since the place was swamped with looters, they were thought to be looters too.' They were arrested but convinced the authorities to let them help in the recovery of artefacts.' A few days later, the students returned a van full of figurines and other damaged artefacts.
Then a group of Iraqi youths formed a group called the 'Protectors of Antiquities'. By traveling up and down the country, they gathered 2000 looted objects. IC Iraq has not been able to determine whether the first group of students who safe-kept the museum artefacts are linked to them, but to Iraqi citizens as well as the human race, they are all true heroes.

Museum unwraps the treasures

Six years later, under heavy armed guard, the Iraqi Museum reopened its doors.
'It was a rugged wave and strong black wind that passed over Iraq, and one of the results was the destruction that hit this cultural icon,' Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki pronounced during the opening ceremony on February 21, 2009.
A group of Iraqi archaeologists signed a petition against the opening, arguing that many of the showcased pieces are not studied, published or catalogued yet. But despite warnings from the critics, the museum reopened eight of its twenty-nine halls, displaying magnificent priceless figurines, ivory, ceramics, cuneiform tablets, Islamic calligraphy and hundreds of pieces of gold showing evidence of city life emerging, dating back to 3000 BC.
'Of course the opening is rather early, but you have no idea how much people have been looking forward to seeing a day like that,' replied our museum tour guide as we queried the premature reopening.
With a mere eight halls open for public, only 6,000 items had so far been returned to the museum, Qahtan Abbas, Iraq's Tourism and Antiquities minister, informed guests.
Despite the fact that the database is not completed yet, the museum still went on and displayed vaguely catalogued pieces. Although precious pieces like Nimrud's treasures, visitors may only admire the rare collection through still photographs.
As we walked through the recently opened halls, museum history swept over us. Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform tablets splendidly embraced the high walls. King Sargon and King Shalmanzzer III stood like a symbol of human history in the centre of the vast space; a shrine of remembrance. An overpowering moment that indisputably makes one appreciate the existence and survival of such treasures.
Staff members were only given one and a half months to prepare the establishment for the reopening ceremony. 'We were told that it has been a long time now and that we must open the museum. The problem is, everything has to be accounted for, like the showcase cabinets, the lighting and the shelves. These are the main things. If they are installed correctly, we have a show. Some pieces are displayed in this correct method, some pieces aren't. It all takes time,' explained Dr. Kamil.
Currently, the museum is working on 200 pieces to be restored. The number is not fixed as more looted artefacts return, which explains why all halls are not yet open. 'It's not a matter of security, but a matter of time and money,' museum officials said. When questioned on the vulnerability of the precious pieces being put on display at a time when the country is still critically challenged, Dr. Kamil said: 'This is the purpose of museums; to display artefacts. You see these members of staff were restricted to storerooms and labs. Now they have real work. They can see things displayed and can identify what needs to be improved and how to help the museum grow.'
A giant stone head lay flat on the floor in the $1 million dollar recently renovated Sumerian hall. As we approach it, it is evident that one of the Winged Bull's heads had been cut up into eleven pieces. 'The thieves were caught near the border and were sentenced to death. That was during Saddam's ruling,' Dr. kamil recalled.
A stand-alone display board illustrated black and white photographs of the inauguration of the museum, depicting the Iraqi people cheering for the entry of the Winged Bulls into the Sumerian hall through a now cemented large gap in the wall.
Walking towards the last hall showcasing a number of beautiful gold coins, jewelry, wooden doors and figurines, Dr. Kamil explains this particular hall is a home for one of the most valuable and extremely rare gold coins. A Dinar with Suratul A'raaf from the Holy Quran inscribed on it, disappointingly labeled incorrectly as its card displayed the wrong measures.
While several thousands of pieces are still missing, the fear for those on loan continues to be a case of controversy. The Egyptian lion on loan in the British Museum and China's Terracotta Army horse in Rome were both returned with minor damages.
The opening of the Museum is a landmark in the fight against the erosion of Mesopotamian heritage by organised gangs procuring priceless artefacts for collectors around the world. 'Why did they steal our civilization's artefacts?' is a frequent question Iraqi pupils ask when they visit the museum. The answer is far from simple.

Prepared for journalisic publication.