US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Americans, Iraqis and others not to retain or attempt to buy and sell objects and documents taken from Iraq's national museums. Those items are "the property of the Iraqi nation under Iraqi and international law," he said.
In a statement released April 14, Powell said the United States would work with INTERPOL and other international organizations in an effort to thwart people from dealing in stolen property. “Such looting causes irretrievable loss to the understanding of history and the efforts of Iraqi and international scholars to study and gain new insight into our past," he said.
The secretary also announced that Ambassador John Limbert and the State Department's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs will take the lead in helping Iraqis and international experts to restore damaged artifacts and catalogs containing lists of antiquities held in the museums that were looted. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
