Baghdad museum looting: where's the outrage now?

Remember Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, appointed to investigate and recover the losses at Baghdad's archeological museum? I don't recall anyone having an ill word to say about him, whether politicians, reporters, or academics. Nor, however, does anyone seem to be giving him much of a hand:

Matthew Bogdanos said 4,500 artefacts had been recovered so far, but 8,000 works - including some of the most valuable - were still missing. The Interpol, France, Switzerland and Dubai had all failed to respond, he told the BBC's Today programme. . .

Colonel Bogdanos . . . said on Tuesday he could not find the words to express his anger at international law enforcement agencies for failing to help trace "some of the most priceless artefacts known to mankind". "I cannot seem to get the international community - apart from the UK, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait and the US - interested in participating," he said.

That's a pretty long list of foot-draggers -- including all of continental Europe except Italy. Where's France? And if Switzerland were at all serious about improving its reputation as the thieves' market of the western world, a bit of effort here would be the minimum one might expect.

Colonel Bogdanos said although the Interpol would be an ideal candidate to facilitate a global investigation, it was "unwilling or unable" to do so.

One can only hope that this is because they are fully occupied with more important matters. But somehow I doubt all will be so convinced. From the BBC.

NOTE: Not a lot of attention being paid to this story, either. As of this morning, I see mentions in only two papers, the Guardian and the Scotman. No results Googling in French, German or Italian, though a few notices in Spanish.

A list of our previous posts on the museum looting story here.

Posted by David on April 14, 2004 11:46 AM