Archaeological looting in Iraq

Looting of ancient artifacts has a long tradition. As early as 1884, laws passed in Mesopotamia about moving and destroying antiquities. By the end of WW1, British-occupied Mesopotamia had created protections for archeological sites where looting was beginning to become a problem. They established an absolute prohibition on exporting antiquities. The British Museum was responsible for the sites and museums across Iraq during this time period. Gertrude Bell, well known for drawing the Iraq borders, excavated many sites around Iraq and created what is now the National Museum of Iraq.

By the mid 1920s the black market for antiquities was growing and looting began in all sites where antiquities could be found. After Iraq was independent of Britain the absolute ban on antiquity exports was lifted. Until the mid 1970s Iraq was one of very few countries to not prohibit external trade in antiquities. This made Iraq attractive to looters and black market collectors from around the globe. The result of the first Gulf War was that at least 4000 artifacts were looted from Iraq sites. Uprisings that followed the war also resulted in 9 of 13 regional museums being looted and burned. This was just a preview for what would once again happen after the 2003 war. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, archaeological looting has become an even greater problem. Though some sites, such as Ur and Nippur, were officially protected by US and Coalition forces, most were not.

Saddam Hussein treasured his national heritage immensely and acted to defend these sites and the artifacts within them. Hussein came into power in 1979 as the fifth president of Iraq. He believed that the past of Iraq was important to his national campaign and his regime actually doubled the national budget for archeology and heritage creating museums and protecting sites all over Iraq. It wasn’t until his party the Ba’athists was under pressure in the 1990s that looting become a large problem once again for Iraq. By 2000 looting had become so rampant that the workers of the sites were even looting their own workplaces. With the fall of Saddam's government on 9 April 2003, archaeological sites were left completely open to looting.

Before the 2003 invasion by United States forces, the US government created an invasion and post-war plan for Iraq. The US has been heavily criticized in the media and academic writings for not adequately planning protections for culture and antiquities. This looting of the National Museum of Iraq and of hundreds of archaeological sites around the country was not prevented. At the time of war planning it was the Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld decided on a fast invasion with fewer troops, resulting in inadequate protection of buildings and cultural sites.

...
Wikipedia