I saw on the internet someone proposed a good idea to stop the looting in Iraq.
It would only be necessary for a Islamic religious leader to announce that looting, stealing, robbery, etc. were IN VIOLATION OF THE KORAN.
Then some appropriate passages could be cited as proof.
This seemed like an excellent idea to me. I know the people in Iraq are very religious and pray many times a day and everything.
I wonder why no one ever thought of this before?
They have thought of that. One cleric told the women not to have sex with their husbands if they looted. They returned the looted stuff.
I guess tigerman and blueface go up through the roof now but I just listened to a live broadcast from Iraq where Iraqis claimed that the US soldiers asked them to take what is theirs.
Well done, boys! 
Rascal, if you took more time from your constant anti-american ranting, you might discover that things aren’t quite as simple as you think. 
Now, right off hand, would think had access to the keys? Hmmmmm?
BTW, if you want to do something about recovering stolen art works, why don’t you join one of the organizations trying to trace art looted by the Germans in WWII?
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … _museums_3
Experts: Looters Had Keys to Iraqi Vaults
Experts: Looters Had Keys to Iraqi Vaults
Thu Apr 17,12:33 PM ET
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities appeared highly organized and even had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting.
One expert said he suspected the looting was organized outside the country.
The U.N. cultural agency gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.
Although much of the looting was haphazard, experts said some of the thieves clearly knew what they were looking for and where to find it, suggesting they were prepared professionals.
“It looks as if part of the looting was a deliberate planned action,” said McGuire Gibson, a University of Chicago professor and president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. “They were able to take keys for vaults and were able to take out important Mesopotamian materials put in safes.”
I didn’t rant but instead stated a fact. In case you haven’t noticed: there are many other places looted beside the museum.
Furthermore I have not excluded the possibility that some (a few only?) lootings are organized.
The art looters were probably largely professionals. I mean come on. If anarchy broke loose in Taipei, I can’t imagine any regular person, local or foreigner (except me), trying to loot the Palace Museum. Most people wouldn’t even know how to get there.
It was apparent from the start that the looting was being done by professionals. The curators said that replicas were left behind while originals were taken. My guess is that rich collectors have been planning this for a while, just biding time until the Hussein regime fell. Of course the potential for this was known to the US army, and their neglect is a catastrophe on the grandest of scales. As an art lover, I’ve just got one more reason to oppose this war.
Fucking yanks. Save oil before the treasures of Mesopotamia? What a bunch of philistines.
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”]
fucking yanks. Save oil before the treasures of Mesopotamia? What a bunch of philistines.[/quote]
And what artistic so-called nation are you from?
Hmmmmmm.
Philistine: 1. A member of an Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia around the 12th century B.C. The American Heritage Dictionary
And more Hmmmmmm.
Philistia: ancient region of SW Palestine, comprising a coastal strip along the Mediterranean and a portion of S Canaan. The chief cities of Philistia were Gaza, Ashqelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath; strategically located on the great commercial route from Egypt to Syria, they formed a confederacy. In the Bible the great Hebrew antagonists of the Philistines are Samson, Saul, and David. Philistines were independent at the time of Amos, and the Jews never really conquered them. Philistia was laid under tribute by Assyria, and the invasion of Palestine by Sennacherib was brought on by Hezekiah
Blueface666 you need a bigger dictionary. But I’m sure you’ve heard that before. 
Philistine:
a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values.
I am connecting with my sources in and out of Iraq with regards the cultural artifacts. Anyone wishing to bid on specific items please contact me with your interests.
What? Did you honestly think that “relic hunters” were not aware of the potential of the haul that would result in the “power vacuum”?
Unfortunately, we will not be selling any oil rights since that was protected by the US forces. Of course, they can always use some of that oil money to buy back some of Iraq’s heritage.
[quote]If anarchy broke loose in Taipei, I can’t imagine any regular person, local or foreigner (except me), trying to loot the Palace Museum. Most people wouldn’t even know how to get there.
[/quote]
Maybe if I was running short of plates. 
Brian
Knowing what dealers will pay for these artifacts, you would find out where the National Palace Museum was right away.
[quote=“Mucha (Muzha) Man”]As an art lover, I’ve just got one more reason to oppose this war.
fucking yanks. Save oil before the treasures of Mesopotamia? What a bunch of philistines.[/quote]
I’m having difficulty understanding how a peace advocate, and from what I know, a fairly nice guy, can post something like this on a public forum. I mean, I can’t imagine you reacting very positively to an American saying “Fucking Canucks” in your general direction. A bit extreme, don’t you think?
Having said that, I share your distress about what has happened to Iraq’s museums.
Maybe the fucking Canadians should have volunteered to help… they could have asked to protect the museums.
[quote=“tigerman”]
Maybe the fucking Canadians should have volunteered to help… they could have asked to protect the museums.[/quote]
Like they did in Bosnia and Somalia. 
sfu.ca/~dann/Backissues/paterso2.htm
[b]"Canada’s top army commander and Defence Minister David Collenette are talking tough about cleaning house, now that another Somalia-style scandal has risen from the ashes of a fire the military tried to stamp out six months ago. The issue yet to be dealt with is the kind of men Canada recruits for its military. From 1992 to 1994, a significant number of Canadian peacekeepers terrorized civilians in Bosnia and Somalia. Airborne soldiers killed three Somalian teenagers suspected of looting the Canadian compound in Belet Huen, torturing at least one of the boys. They beat, tied and bound many others, and made videotapes of themselves boasting that they “ain’t killed enough n-i-g-g-e-r-s yet.”
In Bosnia, at least 30 soldiers and four officers from two regiments are being investigated on charges of beating patients at a psychiatric hospital under their supervision, having sex with the nurses, and selling a machine gun to the Croats."[/b]
I guess tigerman and blueface go up through the roof now but I just listened to a live broadcast from Iraq where Iraqis claimed that the US soldiers asked them to take what is theirs.
Well done, boys! [/quote]
How would you have stopped the mob if you had been commanding a squad in front of the museum? Set up you machine guns and mow’em down? C’mon, Feldmarschall Rascal, we’re all interested. 
The only one I’ll respond to is Tomas since he was the only one with sense enough to criticize me from a standpoint of common decency.
Yes, it was a stupid statement, and one I should not have made. As a Canadian, I always try to be careful not to make ugly, generalized attacks on US people, as this is an all to regular (and obnoxious) reflex of my fellow countrymen.
Fucking Yanks? Even when I wrote it it didn’t seem like something I say. Maybe the spirit of Rascal was possessing me.
I don’t believe the museum looters were all professionals.
From the NYTimes a few days ago:
As examples of what was gone, the officials cited a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era, which began about 3360 B.C. and started to crumble about 2000 B.C. Another item on their list of looted antiquities was a sculptured head of a woman from Uruk, one of the great Sumerian cities, dating from about the same era, and a collection of gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings, also from the Sumerian dynasties and also at least 4,000 years old.
Just as every Taiwanren knows to go after the jade cabbage when the Chinese blow up their/our museum, I’m sure common Iraqis can see the value in a sold gold artifacts and beautiful sculptures.
Yawn. The US managed to secure the Oil Ministery and other “more important” places without mowing anyone down, so why can’t they protect a museum, too - unless they didn’t want to?
C’mon Herr Feldmarchall, why can’t you SIMPLY ANSWER THE QUESTION?
[Sorry for the double posting.