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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Forwarded Message: THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQI CULTURAL HERITAGE The members of the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale are deeply saddened by recent reports about the looting and destruction of Iraqi Museums in Baghdad, Mosul and other cities. According to one report ca. 170,000 objects have been looted from the Antiquities Museum in Baghdad, almost the entire collection. The magnitude of such a loss for the fields of Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Archeology can hardly be overestimated. Many objects in the museums were still unpublished and could be lost forever; others are now destroyed and remain available to us only in photographs and drawings. We appeal to the coalition governments to do everything in their power to stop the looting and the destruction of priceless artifacts and to ensure that what still remains is properly guarded. We also ask that objects that have been taken from the museums will be retrieved as far as is possible, and that preventive measures will be taken against trading these objects on the antique markets. We urge all our members to sign the petition published on the 'Threat to World Heritage in Iraq' web site: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~wolf0126 The Steering Committee of the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale: Prof. Dr. P. Garelli (Paris, president) Dr. W.H. van Soldt (Leiden, secretary) Prof. Dr. D. Charpin (Paris) Prof. Dr. J. Cooper (Baltimore) Dr. J. Curtis (London) Dr. J. Du Toit (Pretoria) Prof. Dr. A. George (London) Prof. Dr. D. Homès-Fredericq (Brussels) Dr. R. Mattila (Helsinki) Prof. Dr. H. Neumann (Münster) Prof. Dr. D. Owen (Ithaca) Prof. Dr. S. Parpola (Helsinki) Prof. Dr. J. de Roos (Amsterdam/Leiden) Prof. Dr. K.R. Veenhof (Leiden) Prof. Dr. R. Vermaak (Pretoria) Prof. Dr. G. Wilhelm (Würzburg) bron: http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/rencontre/ _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk