In a message dated 6/10/2003 3:45:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< It was seen as one of the first major failures of the U.S. rule of 
post-Saddam Iraq. In the wave of looting that engulfed Baghdad after Saddam fell, the 
museums were supposed to have been badly hit. Remember, Iraq is the home of 
Babylon, the cradle of civilization. Thousands of priceless antiquities were 
supposed to have been lost while American troops stood by and did nothing. It 
was all over the press, Nightline included. Now it's an old cliché that truth is 
the first casualty in war. And as ABC News correspondent Hillary Brown will 
report from Baghdad tonight, the truth behind this story is somewhat different. 
It turns out that almost all of the pieces are safe..  >>

I read this too late to watch the show, so I don't know if the following 
question was answered.  I've seen the recent newspaper accounts about the good 
news that far fewer artifacts were stolen than originally reported, but nowhere 
in them or in the above message have I seen an assessment of what was 
vandalized or destroyed.  Yet the news photographs which were distributed after the 
raids on the museum showed horrendous scenes of destruction with objects which 
had been on display apparently having suffered severe damage.  What was the 
damage toll?  Why hasn't this been reported in detail?  Surely these were not all 
replicas?  While there was understandable confusion about how many items were 
actually stolen, given the complexities of the situation and uncertainty about 
what was truly missing vs. hidden elsewhere, it seems to me that it would be 
much easier to compile a listing of the damaged artifacts.  Why has there been 
so much emphasis on theft with so little attention to vandalism?  It seems to 
me that something still doesn't add up.

And another question: since this message advertises a TV program, why should 
it not be considered thinly disguised spam?

David Haberstich  

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