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Alerik
Sir Postalot
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 1375
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 Posted: 04/16/03 - 23:30 Post subject: The Loss of quite possibly the worlds greatest collection..
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Of ancient artifacts dating back to 7000 years ago. Artifacts from Babylon and Ur. Included in this museum was the tablet containing Hammurabi's Code. Basically the earliest known instance of written law. This museum happened to be the National Iraqi Museum in Baghdad.
Our government had been told numerous times by various groups months previous, that something like this might happen. There was video footage of the curators, archeologists, and other people involved weeping openly because of the looting. Most of it unrecoverable.
Rumsfeld called the situation "Untidy". I can think of a few more things to say then that, considering what has just happened. A collection on par if not greater then any other museum in the world is destroyed, by people hungry and uneducated, who really did not know better. Our government was completely aware of this, and did not send anything to keep it from happening. 2 platoons could have kept looters out.
Up until this, I was in full support of everything that had happened so far in the conflict, but after this, I have lost almost all faith in our governments intentions over there. Totally horrible and a loss for humanity.
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Akronn
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 8752
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Posted: 04/16/03 - 23:35 Post subject:
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Yeah, I'll bet ya Rumsfeld's adult diapers are 'untidy' as well.
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Finigan
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 3817
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 00:23 Post subject:
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WTS Hammurabi's Tablet, 50k
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Silvermouse
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 12 Oct 2002
Posts: 11015
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 00:29 Post subject:
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lol Fin.
It is a sad loss, though. Leave it to people to be stupid and loot. Although it has nothing to do with education, because I guarantee you that if our country was totally invaded, bombed, etc., 75% of us would be looting. The other 25% would be in hiding.
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Akronn
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 8752
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 00:37 Post subject:
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We can rectify this, you know.
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Cryz
Sir Postalot
Joined: 17 Feb 2003
Posts: 1013
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 02:16 Post subject:
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| Akronn wrote: | We can rectify this, you know.
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so THATS what the new indiana jones is gonna be about....
no time for love doctah jones!
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atarom
Dalai Lama of RealPoor
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 16395
Location: 375th st. Y
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 04:35 Post subject:
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| Cryz wrote: | | Akronn wrote: | We can rectify this, you know.
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so THATS what the new indiana jones is gonna be about....
no time for love doctah jones! |
lol.
step on it!
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sinrakin
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 7044
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 07:06 Post subject:
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To bad it wasn't an ancient oil well. We would have protected that. Well, if it still had oil in it anyway. Otherwise f**k em. Not that it's about the oil. And you don't make an empire without breaking a few eggs.
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Sabathius
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 2179
Location: San Angelo
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 07:49 Post subject:
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So it's our fault the morons looted thier own history? 
So the f**k what, we lost some old shit. We'll find more.
kekekeek
/ass off
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WheresNWS
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 19 Nov 2002
Posts: 6448
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 08:27 Post subject:
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It's not as though stuff was bombed and destroyed. It'll be sold on the black market, then maybe returned to Iraq, eventually.
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Finigan
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 3817
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 09:12 Post subject:
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Guys, check my ancient Iraqi vase auctions on ebay, for the low price of 5,000 dollars you too can have a peice of ancient history grace your den!
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WheresNWS
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 19 Nov 2002
Posts: 6448
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 10:28 Post subject:
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| Finigan wrote: | | Guys, check my ancient Iraqi vase auctions on ebay, for the low price of 5,000 dollars you too can have a peice of ancient history grace your den! |
Hmmm...that's not a bad idea. When Iraq is more stable, perhaps I will fly over and get some stuff!
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Frax
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 8489
Location: Fuck yoiu fucking fuckers
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 12:00 Post subject:
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It's not the USA's fault that iraqis looted the iraqi museum. It's probably our fault the chinese and north korean's starve each other to death and that muslims in the middle east kill more of each other than the US has ever killed.
give it a rest. The world is a big, ,mean, and nasty place. Just be glad you were born into the wealthiest part of it.
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Alerik
Sir Postalot
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 1375
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 12:16 Post subject:
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I know its not our fault, but we could have done something to stop it. As I said, 2 platoons could have kept this from happening with no detriment to the war effort. It just shows a complete disregard for anything unrelated to money.
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syrox
Rookie
Joined: 26 Nov 2002
Posts: 70
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 12:29 Post subject:
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i'd loot that shit in a second. how pimp would it be to have hammurabi's code sittin on top of the counter. . .
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Ciladar
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 15 Oct 2002
Posts: 3765
Location: Northern New Jersey
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 12:31 Post subject:
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Quick someone check e-Bay!
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compusmack
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 15 Oct 2002
Posts: 6354
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 12:52 Post subject:
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| syrox wrote: | | i'd loot that shit in a second. how pimp would it be to have hammurabi's code sittin on top of the counter. . . |
lol no shit..
Seriously, those people looting will be filthy rich if they play it smart.
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Kikk
Can't Stop Posting
Joined: 14 Oct 2002
Posts: 695
Location: Jacksonville, NC
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 15:28 Post subject:
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Alerik, how do you know two platoons could have stopped that from happening man? Two platoons of what? Tank Platoons? Light infantry? How do they get there without going through the main Iraqi force? And in the case of light infantry who the hell was gonna protect them smack dab in the middle of enemy territory.
For the most part we had no idea of what we would be facing in Baghdad when we got there man. You don't just send troops in on a mission to guard some museum unrelated to the war for the hell of it.
Granted if this happened after we had large portions of the city under control (as long as it was one of those portions) then I agree something should have been done. But did it? Anyone know when it was looted? For f***s sake it could have been looted by the Iraqi army before they moved out or by Saddam himself.
The United States and the UK have both promised to do whatever they can to make sure these objects will never be able to hit the black market--for now that is the best we can do.
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Alerik
Sir Postalot
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 1375
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 18:11 Post subject:
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This happened like 5 days ago Kikk.
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Kikk
Can't Stop Posting
Joined: 14 Oct 2002
Posts: 695
Location: Jacksonville, NC
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 18:20 Post subject:
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it was reported about then Alerik and maybe even a few days before that--nobody has said anything about exactly when it happened.
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Kikk
Can't Stop Posting
Joined: 14 Oct 2002
Posts: 695
Location: Jacksonville, NC
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 18:55 Post subject:
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For the hell of it I looked it up. Most reports on the incident start around the 14th cause that is when the UN condemned the incident however there are many stories starting on the 12th. In the stories that are a little more comprehensive it says by Friday (11th) that everything was gone but that there were several days of looting before that (starting on like the 8th I guess). This is before we had control of the city and we had just started moving up from the airport. There are also several articles of Marines chasing away the looters when they saw them but did not have the forces inside yet to keep a permanent guard.
There are also many reports stating that the first few days of looting were done by professionals (IE doors were not busted down, vaults not forced open, care taken in opening display cases and so forth). Also in the past several days some Iraqi's have returned some of the artifacts.
They were warned that it would happen by several different sources--however it was never a military objective until after the city was secured which wasn't for several days later.
Having served in the military it would bother me beyond words for our leaders to place the value of an object (and I could give a shit about how old it was) over the lives of the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen that were there fighting this war for us. It is a tragedy that something like this happened but it is NOT the fault of our military. I find it humorous that the United States is the one being blamed for this happening when it was the Iraqi people that were responsible. I guess that is the trend all over now to place the blame on others instead of giving it to those responsible.
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Kikk
Can't Stop Posting
Joined: 14 Oct 2002
Posts: 695
Location: Jacksonville, NC
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avguru
Total Newbie
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 20
Location: Dallas
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 22:47 Post subject:
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Another huge point here is that umm, were we gonna hose down 100 Iraqis to keep them away from this shit? People do not always do as expected when armed people are around them, and the last thing we wanted to do the first day we could control the city was to kill a bunch of the folks, as that would not have helped the effort to make them trust us somewhat.
Unfotunately I think it was very important to build some rapport with the people in Baghdad before trying to police them strictly, and that meant the loss of some artifacts and public buildings to people who did not know how to control themselves.
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Maelstrom
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 4072
Location: Montréal
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Posted: 04/17/03 - 23:07 Post subject:
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Those were part of the Irak cultural , so it was their responsabilities to protect them and it wasnt the US that looted it so...
If some people in Irak dont have any respect for their history its their problem.
I dont see why the US should risk the life of a platoon or two cause of that.
hell Saddam prob moved them away.
Think about it you dont just enter there saying hey! these people are religious freaks they would kill anyone trying to get in there.
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Alerik
Sir Postalot
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 1375
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