Dr. Donny George, the archaeologist who falsely told the world that looters had emptied the Iraq National Museum in the early days of Iraq’s liberation, has taken a job at Stony Brook University in New York.
George, also known as Donny George Youkhanna, was fired from his job as museum director last year, principally because he is a Christian who Iraq’s new government believes was a little too cozy with Saddam Hussein’s Baathists.
I can’t help but remember how George told the press, on April 14, 2003, as Baghdad was falling to U.S.-led forces, that the U.S. had failed to protect the museum from a complete looting:
“It’s gone and it’s lost. If Marines had started [guarding the museum] before, none of this would have happened. It’s too late. It’s no use. It’s no use.”
Fact check. The news media went on to report inaccurately that 80 to 100 percent of the museum’s priceless artifacts had been removed as U.S. soldiers and Marines carelessly stood by.
The false reports outraged Iraqis, whose goodwill the Americans were counting on to complete the liberation. Told that the United States had just allowed the grand theft of their national heritage, some angry Iraqis probably went out and shot at their liberators. And George did nothing to contradict the lie for months.
What was the truth? The truth was, 95.11 percent of the museum’s artifacts never left the museum. But the lie was told so many times for so long that most who remember the controversy still believe the museum was stripped bare.
3.1% stolen. Of the 501,000 antiquities in the Iraq museum, about 15,500 were stolen. Most of these were beads, amulets and tiny imprinting seals that could have fit into two large backpacks. Only a few dozen big items were removed.
Now George continues to mislead anyone who will listen. He’ll tell everyone about the 15,500 items stolen, but neglect to mention those artifacts accounted for just 3.1 percent of the museum’s contents, and that most of them were miniscule, minor pieces. (Another 1.8 percent of the items were stored safely elsewhere.)
George lets everyone think he was the hero who saved the museum, when, in fact, it was U.S. soldiers and Marines who protected the museum, even as Saddam’s snipers were shooting at the Americans from inside and on top of the museum.
Recoverer of relics. The Stony Brook Independent newspaper declares George is “internationally known for recovering thousands of priceless relics for the National Museum of Baghdad.”
But the Independent hasn’t asked George what happened to 10,300 of the missing 15,500 items.
An investigation of the museum thefts revealed they weren’t taken by looters; they were taken by museum staff members long before Saddam’s snipers let the looters in through a back door. It was an inside job by someone with a museum key.
Moment of truth. Congratulations on your new job, Dr. George. Now won’t you tell us who had the key?
Frank Warner
Kiko's House has a picture of looted museum, presumably, and a link to NY Times article.
Posted by: jj mollo | December 12, 2007 at 09:45 PM