The International Federation of Library Associations has just released a report indicating that the situation in Iraq's libraries is perhaps worse than the recent and optimistic reports from the Iraqi National Museum: http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm The conflicting reports from Iraq make it difficult if not impossible to know the actual status of the antiquities there. At the same time various news sources were offering the hopeful report cited by Sandra above, the Chicago Tribune was reporting that first millennium BC/BCE Assyrian sites were being attacked by looters who were carving ancient bas reliefs with chain saws for easy transport out of the country. A UNESCO assessment team was scheduled to arrive in Baghdad today. Perhaps their report will help clarify the situation.
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