Donny George flees to Damascus

A rather grim picture of the situation in Baghdad:

Donny George has resigned as President of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) in Iraq, citing his frustration at lack of funding and at growing interference from the radical Shi’ite party now in control of the government ministry to which SBAH is attached.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper from Damascus where he has moved with his family, Dr George said that the present financial crisis is so severe that from this month there is no money to pay the salaries of the special police force that has been protecting archaeological sites across Iraq, without which looters will be given free reign.

Dr George says Baghdad is now so dangerous that the National Museum has been closed and completely sealed with thick concrete walls. The move follows the kidnapping two months ago of 50 people near the museum building. . .

Dr George, who is a Christian, says that in the past year an increasingly Islamist and anti-western agenda over which he had little control had permeated the activities of the SBAH. “A lot of people have been sent to our institutions,” he says. “They are only interested in Islamic sites and not Iraq’s earlier heritage.”

Posted by David on August 27, 2006 10:27 PM