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CNN Live At Daybreak

Museum Looting in Iraq

Aired April 15, 2003 - 06:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about what's happening in Baghdad this morning. Looting is still ongoing, but the looting at the Iraqi National Museum a few days ago was certainly prompting criticism of U.S. forces.
We want to go to Baghdad and Jim Clancy, because now there is a plan to retrieve some of those artifacts from the museum.

Good morning -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, we talked to some people, the directors of the museum here in Baghdad. It's the Iraqi National Museum, 500,000 years of history, the most complete timeline of civilization that existed in any museum in the world. It is shattered, it is smashed.

The directors -- curators of the museum led reporters through it today on a bit of a media tour. They showed them the places that had been broken down when thousands of looters went in there.

Carol, very important to point out. They now believe, because of some of the evidence that they have found, some of the items that were taken, that some professionals had been involved in this. Among other things they found were glass cutters that they said are not sold in Iraq. They are looking into that.

They have closed off the main area of the museum. What we saw this day was the administrative part of the museum, where some uncataloged or ready-to-be-processed artifacts were kept. We saw many things that had been smashed, doors hacked in. We saw things that had been taken away in terms of entire archives of the history of archaeology in this country over the past century.

Now, other than a professional job, there have been rumors that Marines, U.S. Marines were involved in this, opened up the doors. I talked to the one man today who was actually there when the looters were in the building, and he said absolutely not, the Marines were not involved in any way. They did come briefly, fired over the heads of the looters. The looters left, but then he said when the Marines departed the scene, the looters came back, cleaning up the job, devastating the museum.

The extent of damage still not known, and a lot of anger, because as Dr. Donny George, the director of antiquities said, there were promises it was going to be otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNY GEORGE, IRAQI NATIONAL MUSEUM: Three days ago, me and Dr. Jabber Haline (ph), chairman of the State Board of Antiquities, went to the headquarters of the Marines in the Palestine Hotel. We waited there for about four hours until we met a colonel there. And that day, he promised that he will send armored cars to protect what's left of the museum. Three days ago, until now, nobody came.

I don't know what kind of protection. Even in the news last night we heard that Mr. Powell said that we will protect the museum. And I was expecting this morning to come and see some of the armored cars here, but nobody is here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: One of the things that was taken was a bronze bust dating back about 7,000 years. It weighed hundreds of kilograms. It was taken off the second floor. They say no normal looters did that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Jim Clancy reporting live from Baghdad. We appreciate the update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired April 15, 2003 - 06:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about what's happening in Baghdad this morning. Looting is still ongoing, but the looting at the Iraqi National Museum a few days ago was certainly prompting criticism of U.S. forces.
We want to go to Baghdad and Jim Clancy, because now there is a plan to retrieve some of those artifacts from the museum.

Good morning -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, we talked to some people, the directors of the museum here in Baghdad. It's the Iraqi National Museum, 500,000 years of history, the most complete timeline of civilization that existed in any museum in the world. It is shattered, it is smashed.

The directors -- curators of the museum led reporters through it today on a bit of a media tour. They showed them the places that had been broken down when thousands of looters went in there.

Carol, very important to point out. They now believe, because of some of the evidence that they have found, some of the items that were taken, that some professionals had been involved in this. Among other things they found were glass cutters that they said are not sold in Iraq. They are looking into that.

They have closed off the main area of the museum. What we saw this day was the administrative part of the museum, where some uncataloged or ready-to-be-processed artifacts were kept. We saw many things that had been smashed, doors hacked in. We saw things that had been taken away in terms of entire archives of the history of archaeology in this country over the past century.

Now, other than a professional job, there have been rumors that Marines, U.S. Marines were involved in this, opened up the doors. I talked to the one man today who was actually there when the looters were in the building, and he said absolutely not, the Marines were not involved in any way. They did come briefly, fired over the heads of the looters. The looters left, but then he said when the Marines departed the scene, the looters came back, cleaning up the job, devastating the museum.

The extent of damage still not known, and a lot of anger, because as Dr. Donny George, the director of antiquities said, there were promises it was going to be otherwise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNY GEORGE, IRAQI NATIONAL MUSEUM: Three days ago, me and Dr. Jabber Haline (ph), chairman of the State Board of Antiquities, went to the headquarters of the Marines in the Palestine Hotel. We waited there for about four hours until we met a colonel there. And that day, he promised that he will send armored cars to protect what's left of the museum. Three days ago, until now, nobody came.

I don't know what kind of protection. Even in the news last night we heard that Mr. Powell said that we will protect the museum. And I was expecting this morning to come and see some of the armored cars here, but nobody is here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: One of the things that was taken was a bronze bust dating back about 7,000 years. It weighed hundreds of kilograms. It was taken off the second floor. They say no normal looters did that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understand. Jim Clancy reporting live from Baghdad. We appreciate the update.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.