Word: iraq
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...minimizing what was done during the war. I've spent the better part of my life over the last 5-6 years attempting to return to Iraqis their priceless cultural heritage. But what we should do is strip away the myths about the looting of the Iraq museum: that U.S. forces stood idly by while the patrimony of an entire country was looted. That didn't happen. Things did happen for which the world should be outraged. But not that...
...think it is fair to say the looting of the Iraq museum is symbolic of the chaos in 2003. Perhaps it is another reason why the Iraqi government felt so strongly about opening it to proclaim, if you will, "The chaos is over." Or that the chaos has been controlled to the extent that we can control chaos...
...pictures of Iraq's revival...
There is a lot of mythology about the looting of the Iraq museum. By and large that mythology has been debunked. And I've spent the better of more than 5, 6 years attempting to debunk it. But we should be clear on something: the looting could not have been avoided. It couldn't. It could have been and should have been lessened. But we should also be clear that the vast majority of the items that were removed were removed long before the war. So the war itself is not the reason the sine qua non of the looting...
...ugly truth is that antiquities trafficking in Iraq is funding the insurgency and has since at least 2004. That's a fact. And it shouldn't surprise anyone. Mao tells us that terrorist organizations have to adapt in order to survive. Adapt or die. Look at the Taliban in Afghanistan. They're using opium to support their activities. Why? Because opium is a limitless cash crop. Well they don't have opium in Iraq. But what they have in almost limitless supply are antiquities. So they're using them to fund their activities. It is not the number one source...