Iraq’s Loss, Mankind’s Tragedy

After years of civil war and conflict — this is doubtless the best news to come out of Iraq. The country’s National Museum has reopened nearly six years after it was closed in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq.

Amid the mind-numbing chaos that was unleashed by the invasion and subsequent fall of the Baathist regime, the invaluable treasures of Baghdad’s National Museum were plundered and ransacked. At least 15,000 statues and other invaluable antiquities went missing.

Some of those historically invaluable artefacts found their way onto the international market and some disappeared into private collections. Many of those historical jewels were simply destroyed by thieves and thugs who had, not surprisingly, little idea of their true value and significance. What is most ironic and totally unacceptable is the fact that all this loot and destruction of mankind’s rich, recorded history took place under the very nose of the people who came as Iraq’s liberators and defenders. Not for nothing Iraq is known as the Cradle of Civilisation. The archeological wealth of Iraq, historically known as Mesopotamia, records some of the first evidence of complex and highly advanced urban life more than 5,000 years ago. The National Museum had been home to all 
this and more.

In fact, as its former director Donny George, who moved to the US after the museum’s plundering, once said, this is the only museum in the world that has the history and culture of mankind in one spot under one roof. Iraq is a country of many firsts — recording the earliest villages, cities, writing, poetry, epic literature, temples, codified religion, armies, warfare, economy 
and empire building.

All this was captured for posterity in the antiques and artefacts on display at the National Museum. Tragically, most of it has been lost or ransacked, thanks to the criminal indifference of occupation powers. Having invaded the country and dislodged its government and authority, it was the responsibility of the US-led coalition of the willing to protect the country’s assets. So much destruction and rape of a country’s historical treasures and national assets did not take place even during World War I and II.

Even former president and a much-reviled tyrant Saddam Hussein, and many other rulers before him, took great pains to protect the country’s historical treasure and riches. The Iraqi government has managed to recover nearly 6,000 of those lost antiquities after tireless efforts and by offering huge cash rewards. It is these recovered objects and artefacts that 
went on display on Monday when the museum was reopened in Baghdad by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki.

Historian and former curator Donny George was right when he accused the United States of committing the ‘crime of the century’ when its soldiers stood by and watched as the plundering and destruction of the museum went on for days. The National Museum’s ransacking wasn’t just Iraq’s or the Middle East’s tragedy. That heritage belonged to all of us. It was thus mankind’s loss.