TFIZ01 -- RESPONDING TO THE LOOTING OF THE IRAQI

UNCLAS KUWAIT 001405 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA LAROCCO PM BLOOMFIELD AND INL SIMONS IRAQ TASK FORCE FOR PM ACTION TEAM DOD FOR WOLFOWITZ DOJ FOR SWARTZ AND ODAG/EONS JAMES MCATARMNEY DEPARTMENT PASS NSC FOR SUZANNE MCCORMICK FROM ORHA KUWAIT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SCUL MOPS IZ SUBJECT: TFIZ01 -- RESPONDING TO THE LOOTING OF THE IRAQI MUSEUM REF: Limbert-Larocco Telecon 4/13/03 ¶1. NIACT immediate precedence required for action outside normal working hours. ¶2. This is an action message. ¶2. US academic and military contacts indicate they are hearing rumors that antiquities looted from the Baghdad Iraqi Museum are already appearing on European markets. Press reports that looters also destroyed records of museum holdings suggest that there was an intention to move and sell the most valuable items outside Iraq. ¶3. Stopping the loss of these priceless objects will take a fast and concerted multi-agency and international effort. We suggest the following immediate steps. ¶A. Coalition military authorities in Iraq should issue a statement forbidding anyone, Iraqi or non-Iraqi, from dealing in stolen antiquities. In the United States the Attorney General and the US Customs Service should make a similar announcement. ¶B. Coalition authorities should offer amnesty or reward to those returning stolen objects, or records of such objects. There should be rewards for those providing information on the whereabouts of stolen material. ¶C. Coalition authorities should provide security for remaining objects and for other high-value cultural sites. Of special importance are gold items stored in the National Bank building in Baghdad. ¶D. Coalition authorities should secure records at the Ministry of Finance, where there may be duplicates of the museum records. ¶E. Make an immediate contacts with Interpol, UNESCO, and governments in art market centers to ensure that any objects of Mesopotamian origin offered for sale on the international art market without proof of provenance will be considered to have been looted and must be turned over to the Iraqi authorities -- with rewards offered for items of special value or significance. ¶G. Countries where there is an important international art market should make public announcements similar to that in A above. ¶4. Following is the suggested text of a public statement that could be issued both in Iraq in the U.S. The people of the United States value the archeological and cultural heritage of Iraq that documents over 10,000 years of the development of civilization. In recent days, the National Museum in Baghdad has been looted as well as the museum in Mosul and possibly archaeological sites and other cultural institutions. Such looting causes irretrievable loss to our understanding of history and the efforts of Iraqi and international scholars to study and gain new insight into our past. Objects and documents taken from museums and sites are the property of the Iraqi nation under Iraqi law. They are therefore stolen property, whether found in Iraq or the United States or other nations, and anyone knowingly possessing or dealing in such objects is committing a crime both in Iraq and in the United States. Such individuals may be prosecuted under Iraqi law and under the United States' National Stolen Property Act. The Iraqi people, as well as members of the Coalition forces and others, are warned not to handle these artifacts. In particular, Americans are asked not to purchase or otherwise trade in such objects as they belo0ng to the nation of Iraq and are stolen property. ¶5. POC in Kuwait is John Limbert, Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA),mobile phone no. 965-968- ¶5674. Please slug cable responses for him. J