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Iraqi Museum of Antiquity Looted of Ancient Artifacts, Tandy Computers
By Mark Fisher in Baghdad
BAGHDAD — US forces entered Baghdad with such speed that a vacuum was created, according to a US General. "In expelling the regime of Saddam Hussein, a huge void was created," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks. "Add the number of Saddam Look-A-Likes removed simultaneously, and you end up with a 'super vacuum'. Anything near the nucleus of such a negative force is going to be pulled in. I don't think anyone anticipated that the riches of Iraq would be sucked into this abyss. And indeed it happened in some places."
Brooks was referring to the loss of ancient tires, primeval Tandy computers, primitive pastel-green porcelain toilets and dozens of rusted 55-gallon drums dating back to the Mesopotamian era and "the seat of world civilization" from the National Museum of Iraq. As physicists in the US and abroad studied this new phenomenon, Brooks said the Coalition was hopeful that lost items could be recovered, saying they "still aren't 100% sure everything's gone on to another dimension in time and space."
"The riches of the Iraqi population are of interest to the world," said Brooks. "We have work under way with the Iraqi population to have this place not suck again."
Reporters in Baghdad were shown scenes of the devastation during a tour of the museum on Tuesday, and were shocked at what they saw. "It must have sucked ... I don't know. It must have just really sucked in here," said one veteran CNN reporter.
Dr. Robert Springborg, former Director of the American Research Center in Egypt and an Iraqi art authority, said Tuesday that US and British authorities were aware of the possibility that Baghdad could "suck big" after the elimination of Saddam's regime, and "action should have been taken" to avert how much it would really suck. "I fear we're going to lose much of the world's patrimony," Springborg said, sending reporters scrambling to look up the meaning of 'patrimony.'
