Letter Never Sent

US accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques:

It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with US defence and state department officials prior to the start of military action to offer its assistance in preserving the country’s invaluable archaeological collections.

The group is known to consist of a number of influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq’s tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Its treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq’s laws as ‘retentionist’ and has said he would support a post-war government that would make it easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US.

Before the Gulf war, a main strand of the ACCP’s campaigning has been to persuade its government to revise the Cultural Property Implementation Act in order to minimise efforts by foreign nations to block the import into the US of objects, particularly antiques.

News of the group’s meeting with the government has alarmed scientists and archaeologists who fear the ACCP is working to a hidden agenda that will see the US authorities ease restrictions on the movement of Iraqi artifacts after a coalition victory in Iraq.

Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, leading Cambridge archaeologist and director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, said: ‘Iraqi antiquities legislation protects Iraq. The last thing one needs is some group of dealer-connected Americans interfering. Any change to those laws would be absolutely monstrous. ‘

The British Empire likewise looted Egyptian and Greek treasures during their colonial days.

For Blogs Against War.

Despite all of our whining about the Geneva Convention…oh the hypocrisy. This is how we treat POW’s (exhibit a, b, c, d).

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera is still down.

American mercenaries are killing children and wrecking entire families. Bombing markets and killing innocent people. In this photo according to the caption: The four-year old girl, blood streaming from an eye wound, was screaming for her dead mother, while her father, shot in a leg, begged to be freed from the plastic wrist cuffs slapped on him by U.S. marines, so he could hug his other terrified daughter.

In another photo, an unidentified Iraqi man is cradling the bloodied body of a young girl whose foot is clearly shredded. In yet another, family members weep near the wrapped bodies of their loved ones killed by ‘Allied’ airstrikes. I expect the Iraqi people to never forget this. We have no right to be in their country. As soon as we get rid of Saddam, I hope the Iraqi people toss us out on our ear. We bring nothing but hardship to replace hardship and subjugation to replace subjugation.

Meanwhile US Troops enjoy ‘Operation Playmate’. Is this a screwed up country or what? While we’re destroying countless lives our soldiers are receiving signed Playboy Playmate photos.

‘Die-ins’ target war and news media:

Aaron Unger, one of the coordinators of the protest for a group calling itself the M-27 Coalition, said demonstrators broke the law to drive home a point.

“We believe the war against Iraq is a violation of international law,” Unger said. “And the media is not telling people the whole story. I know people see what we’re doing as a nuisance. But what’s happening to the people of Iraq is much more than a nuisance.”

Fox News had its own response to the demonstrators. The news ticker rimming Fox’s headquarters on Sixth Avenue wasn’t carrying war updates as the protest began. Instead, it poked fun at the demonstrators, chiding them.

“War protester auditions here today … thanks for coming!” read one message. “Who won your right to show up here today?” another questioned. “Protesters or soldiers?”

Said a third: “How do you keep a war protester in suspense? Ignore them.”

Still another read: “Attention protesters: the Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street” – a reference to the film maker who denounced the war while accepting an Oscar on Sunday night for his documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”

The protesters said Fox’s sentiments only proved their point: that media coverage, in particular among the television networks, is so biased as to be unbelievable.

This and the ClearChannel sponsorship of pro-war rallies underscores the fact that corporate America is behind the war in Iraq and will do what it can to disinform and manipulate American sentiments.