Being disingenuous is not what the media is about. it is not part of your job description nor does it embolden you, nor should it embolden you. It is unfair and not very responsible to link one act to another that is wholly unrelated, however indirectly you attempt such linkage.
The LA Times does so and does it as often as it can and apparently with little thought.
The parts I would like to highlight, I have reproduced from the article.
First, to be clear - if I am writing a 2000 word article and I spend 1800 on one topic and one or two sentences on an alternative theory and then return for the last 100 words to the original strain or theory or argument ... we are not entirely honest nor balanced.
The article:
BAGHDAD -- He works as a blacksmith in one of Baghdad's swarming Shiite slums. But at least once a month, Abu Saif tucks a pistol into his belt, hops into a minibus taxi and speeds south.His goal: to unearth ancient treasures from thousands of archaeological sites scattered across southern Iraq.
Images of Baghdad's ransacked National Museum, custodian of a collection dating back to the beginning of civilization, provoked an international outcry in the early days of the war in 2003.The ancient statues, intricately carved stone panels, delicate earthenware and glittering gold are now protected by locked gates and heavily armed guards. But U.S. and Iraqi experts say a tragedy on an even greater scale continues to unfold at more than 12,000 largely unguarded sites where illegal diggers like Abu Saif are chipping away at Iraq's heritage."It may well be that more stuff has come out of the sites than was ever in the Iraqi museum," said Elizabeth Stone, an archeology professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Iraqi officials say the U.S. government has supported their efforts to retrieve looted antiquities from the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Islamic and other civilizations, but they do not hide their bitterness that more was not done to secure them in the first place."Iraq floats over two seas; one is oil and the other is antiquities," said Abdul Zahra Talaqani, media director for Iraq's Ministry of State for Tourism and Archaeology. "The American forces, when they entered, they protected all the oil wells and the Ministry of Oil . . . but the American forces paid no attention to Iraq's heritage."The thefts were already taking place before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, but U.S. and Iraqi experts say they surged in the chaos that followed.
End of excerpt.
Antiquities - scrolls, pottery, paintings, carvings ... who wants them and why? I assume someone who has the money to pay. Museum or private collectors. And what will they do with them? Stick them in cases and show them to visitors or guests.
I do not sense or believe that these antiquities will be destroyed, unless the Islamic armies get control of the pottery and blast them to bits.
So first we should relax a bit. What may be stolen is not lost, it is misplaced. Second, should any museum in the world, where laws apply and governments work by something other than bribery, the pottery and shards and relics will be returned. Until then, they are safe.
Next - if the shards or pottery are in private hands, the question is why and what would they do with it? Hide it in their basement is unlikely else why pay so much for it. More likely, sell it or show it off. In either case, given time, it to will be uncovered and returned.
Until then, the bits of antiquity that have been taken are carefully cared for and will be returned, probably at the time Iraq is able to invite the world to visit its museums and appreciate the art.
The twist of the article makes it seem that the end, Armageddon has befallen the world of art and antiquities.
The other point is - 12,000 sites and it got worse after the US invaded - as if Iraq was guarding all 12,000 sites before. Ha. Only in the imagination of someone on serious drugs.
And the military is not a police force - it was not our responsibility and no, we cannot consider - gee, when we invade we will have to watch out for pottery. Silly rabbits, war is war - not the Geneva Convention.
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