BAGHDAD, April 11: Mobs on Friday looted Baghdad’s cultural and historic treasures, including Iraq’s largest archeological museum, and the capital’s two most prestigious hotels were in flames amid a breakdown in law and order since the Iraqi capital fell to US troops two days ago.
A dozen looters helped themselves undisturbed in ground floor rooms at the National Museum of Iraq, where pottery artefacts and statues were seen broken or overturned and administrative offices were wrecked.
Two men were seen hauling an ancient portal out of the building, and empty wooden crates were scattered over the floor. Other items yanked from the walls were lying on the ground.
Upstairs rooms seemed to have been spared for the time being, however.
The museum housed a major collection of antiquities, including a 4,000-year-old silver harp from Ur.
Iraq, among the earliest cradles of civilization and home to the remains of such ancient Mesopotamian cities as Babylon, Ur and Nineveh, has one of the richest archaeological heritages in the world.
International cultural organizations had urged that the heritage of Iraq, which boasts more than 10,000 archeological sites, be spared ahead of the US-led war launched March 20.
While certain rooms of the museum were nearly emptied, there were also no items behind display cases, indicating that certain pieces had been stashed away before the war. Sandbags were positioned on the ground to protect the artifacts in case of a fall.
Large items difficult to carry remained in place, including three tombstones bearing Kufi calligraphy.
While some witnesses said the looters ran off with the museum artifacts, others said US forces had helped take items away before they entered the heart of the city on Wednesday.
“The looters didn’t reach the main rooms, which are upstairs,” said witness Hussam Zuheiri.
HOTELS IN FLAMES: Baghdad’s two most prestigious hotels, the Rashid and the Mansur, were both in flames on Friday.
A witness saw looters climb over the railings of the Rashid and haul out furniture, carpets and televisions to some 15 vehicles waiting in the parking lot.
The Rashid hotel was long the destination of choice for visiting dignitaries to Baghdad. It also used to lodge most foreign media, but most journalists avoided it for security reasons after the US-led coalition launched the war March 20.
At the Mansur, near the banks of the Tigris, the ground floor was also in flames with smoke rising from the top of the building. A nearby state-run store was also on fire.
Plumes of smoke could be seen across Baghdad on Friday showing buildings that have been ransacked.
Mobs have been looting official and commercial buildings alike across Baghdad since Wednesday, when US troops entered the heart of the city and the regime’s security apparatus crumbled along with President Saddam Hussein’s rule.—AFP
