[mburbank]

Not only were they warned, protecting the collection was supposed to be a major priority. And Western scholars have had access to this collection until days before the war began.

Just becuase you find it common snese means nothing in terms of the reality. The collection is well known, well documented, well studied, the museum was an active center of study until very recently and none of it's contents had it's 'credability' questioned.

"It's doubtful that artifacts representative of Babylonian Jewry were preserved while the community itself was cleansed"

Whie I lament the demise of Iraqi Jewry, that statement is like saying the Smithsonians collection of Native American artifacts are somehow in doubt.

I stress again, this museum was an active site for scholarship and research. Whatever his reasons may hve been, Hussein left it alone.