Museum Looted

Looters in Baghad have completely plundered the National Museum of Iraq, which housed what was probably the world's finest collection of Sumerian and Assyrian artifacts.

Apparently a small contingent of Marines was unable to stop the looting for more than half an hour. Excuses for looting generally have been that there are too few American troops in Baghad to prevent rioting and looting. Hmmm. Surely our vaunted war planners anticipated such activity in Baghad?

Museum directors and art dealers in the US and Europe should lead an effort to prevent these stolen artifacts from winding up in the hands of private collectors and museums abroad. We owe it to the people of Iraq to help them preserve the ancient history of their land as much as possible.