--- Eugene Dillenburg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> 2) I'm not sure that this incident will have all that great an impact on
> the museum field, particularly in the West.  The Director of the Iraq
> Museum -- as noted, a Saddam loyalist -- lied, apparently to make the US
> look bad.

Again, I find it amazing at how fickle museum professionals can be over issues.


When the first reports of massive looting and vandalism of the Baghdad museum
came out, this list lit up with "How could they let that happen?" types of
posts. People were quick to jump on the troops for not doing enough and the US
for ignoring the warnings of UNESCO and not providing enough troops to protect
historical sites. I find this especially ironic coming from a group of people
who's job it is to interpret the world around us - past to present - when we
all know, what is presented is not always a direct reflection on what happened.

The US and the troops aside, I'm really shocked that more people aren't
outraged over museum professionals LYING to further their own agendas. Don't
properly credit a reference in a journal article and it's "off with your head".
Lie about stolen artifacts and no one bats an eyelash.

Now I'm willing to hear all sides of the story because after all, it could have
been that museum personnel were afraid of their secret vaults being looted if
they had disclosed that they existed. I can understand that but the museum
community should still send a message to them that massive deception, despite
good intentions, is unacceptable. Thousands if not millions of dollars and
man-hours have been spent to try and recover artifacts that were ultimately
safe when they could have been spent on recovering the real lost artifacts.

If it turns out that the museum professionals in question lied to make the
troops look bad and to further their own agendas, then I think ICOM and UNESCO
as well as the rest of the museum community, should call for them to step down
and never allow them in a museum again. The public might not care but we
should. It affects our own integrity as museum professionals and sends a
message to the community that it's okay to twist information around for our own
gains.

This isn't limited to hiding artifacts but presenting information in general.
If we excuse deliberate deception, will we also excuse misinformation in
exhibits or when publishing research? If the public isn't disallusioned with us
now, how will they fell about us after a few more cases of deliberate
misinformation have been uncovered?

Deb



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