Thieves of Baghdad

Last night I went into our local independent bookseller to buy a gift and arrived in the middle of a talk / book signing. The talk was almost over, but I listened to the rest, and watched the presentation. It was both fascinating and compelling.

The author is a former Marine officer who served in Iraq at the beginning of the war. Whether by assignment or [?] [remember, I missed the beginning] he had a lot to do with the National Museum and other cultural heritage sites.

His photos were stunning, his story close to heartbreaking. 5000 years of antiquities, from the cradle of civilization, are in jeopardy because political games.

He has proposed a plan that would involve nations/governments adopting specific cultural heritage sites. They would send in trained security officers who would work for six months with Iraqi trainees. At the end of six months the foreign nationals would leave their equipment and go home, leaving a trained, equipped Iraqi force in place. He has committed the royalties from the book to helping make it happen.

To date only a handful of countries have stepped up. UK and US, but also places like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Spain...some European Union countries are notable by their absence.

I wish I had heard the whole presentation.

The book: Thieves of Baghdad.