Iraq repatriates trafficked artifacts from Japan and Switzerland

"The recovered antiquities are not
just pieces, but rather part of the national identity,

and they are a witness to the antiquity of Iraq's civilization"

-Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has declared that Iraqi antiquities had been recovered from Japan and Switzerland:

"Based on the recovery strategy adopted by the ministry, tens of thousands of smuggled antiquities have been recovered," Hussein said during a joint press conference with Culture Minister Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani on the delivery of a set of Iraqi antiquities to the Ministry of Culture

 

Meanwhile the attempt to reverse the flood of increasing numbers of clandestinely excavated artefacts smuggled out of the country into the hands of greedy and totally unscrupulous foreign dealers and equally greedy and unprincipled collectors and investors are placing local ressources under a great strain. Director General of the Museums Department, Laith Majeed, has explained,

                                  .                          

"The museum is unable to accommodate all the antiquities, so there is an urgent need to establish a large new museum," noting that "one of the strategic plans set is the opening of the Grand Iraqi Museum to display antiquities and heritage artifacts".

"Many antiquities have been recovered, and two years ago the largest recovery process took place from the United States of America with 17,000 artifacts, in addition to the recovery of 337 pieces from Lebanon," he added, stressing that "the recovery operations are ongoing and there are important artifacts that will return to the Iraqi Museum from several European countries".[...] "Antiquities smuggling gangs are spread all over the world, and the issue of antiquities smuggling is an international problem, so there is international cooperation by Interpol to follow up on smuggled antiquities and arrest smuggling gangs," he included.

Except there are few actual arrests taking place. Where is the court case about the "17000 artefacts", who was brought to account over that?

These articles however miss the essential point, national identity, national pride (standing up to those that steal from the people of Iraq) are one thing, the actual physical damage done to the archaeological record by this looting is completely ignored here. And it is the destroyed stratigraphy, now unable to be 'read' to tell the untold stories of the land's past - and not the mere objects from it (mute witnesses to only a sliver of that fuller story) - that is the real issue ignored by the politicians and back-slapping journalists. THIS is what needs to be addressed.

The only way of doing that is to smash the market and marketeers. We do not see that here, just some tut-tutting, handwringing about "where will we put it all?" and vague warnings that someone-somewhere-in-a-faraway-land might in some mythical revenge get "arrested" for their misdeeds.

Yet, besides these crooks, the people that dug up the stuff, who acted as middlemen and dispatched the stuff to foreign markets ignoring local law are right under the authorities' noses in Iraq. Punish the artefact hunters, make them see this as a highly risky venture, not worth attempting. They'll only get cheated by the dealers anyway.