US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT1405

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