Gross Exaggeration - Looting of the Iraqi National Museum

[Nie Trink Wasser]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43492-2003Jun11&notFound=true

"Everyone in journalism makes mistakes, especially routine mistakes _ the misspelled name, the mangled title, the wrong date. In this case, though, the press told us that, in a crushing loss for western civilization, 170,000 artifacts were stolen.

The actual number: 33.

Yes, some of the booty was later returned, but 169,967 items? Maybe Don Rumsfeld was right that TV kept showing the same vase being carried away over and over."

[Ed]

Well, the "looting" reflected badly on the US so what would you expect?

[mbp]

Why have you dug up this old story now? As has later been made clear, the number of objects looted wasn't anything like 170,000. But it was far more than just 33.

Take a look at this (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6143848.htm) article.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have confirmed the theft of at least 6,000 artifacts from Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities during a prolonged looting spree in the waning days of the Iraq war


It now appears, however, that while the losses were not nearly as grave as early reports indicated, they go far beyond the 33 items known to have been taken from the museum's display halls.

[Crossbow]

Er, NTW, do you realize that article is almost a month old?

Perhaps it was news to you but it was not to me.

[Tricky]

Originally posted by Crossbow
Er, NTW, do you realize that article is almost a month old?

Perhaps it was news to you but it was not to me.
It is also incorrect (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/03/iraq.museum/index.html) "news". While it is true that only 32 "quality" pieces remain missing, thanks to the forsight of the museum curators, there are some 10,000 other pieces missing or destroyed.

[Nie Trink Wasser]

Originally posted by Tricky

It is also incorrect (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/03/iraq.museum/index.html) "news". While it is true that only 32 "quality" pieces remain missing, thanks to the forsight of the museum curators, there are some 10,000 other pieces missing or destroyed.

"However, other reports have indicated that many of the museum's treasures were taken prior to the U.S.-led war. "



Er, NTW, do you realize that article is almost a month old?

Perhaps it was news to you but it was not to me.


oh perhaps !
perhaps !
congratulations, yet I don't recall seeing any discussion on it here....unless, of course I missed the discussion ?

could you show me a discussion of this here that I missed ?

[renata]

Originally posted by Nie Trink Wasser




could you show me a discussion of this here that I missed ?

Search function is a wonderful thing. These are the threads I found within about a minute, there was at least one more in Banter, and there may be some I missed
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21893&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21196&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18753&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17777&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18731&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18179&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17534&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17637&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19047&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18998&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18413&highlight=museum

[Crossbow]

Thanks renata!

You are H*lla Cool!

By the way, NTW, you would do well to heed her excellent advice.

[Nie Trink Wasser]

Originally posted by renata


Search function is a wonderful thing. These are the threads I found within about a minute, there was at least one more in Banter, and there may be some I missed
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21893&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21196&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18753&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17777&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18731&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18179&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17534&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17637&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19047&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18998&highlight=museum
http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18413&highlight=museum

well shut my mouth.
thanks for the links.


after I read through these, hopefully I can find a good reason for the extremely inflated number initially assigned to the missing artifacts.

[Mr Manifesto]

It's quite simple. When a report breaks, the numbers tend to be exaggerated.

For example, when 9/11 began, estimates of casualties were 20 000. But we can breathe a sigh of relief, because 'only' 4000 or so died.

Why were the casualties grossly exaggerated? Could it be a right-wing plot to justify going to war in the Middle East? Er, no, that's just what happens when a story breaks.

Nie Essen *******

[ceo_esq]

The New York Times reports today (July 9):The director of the Iraq Museum said yesterday that at least 10 percent of its contents had vanished. Speaking at a news conference at the British Museum in London, the director, Dr. Nawalaal Mutawalli, said some 13,000 objects had vanished from the museum's storage room, which has been only partly inspected, the BBC reported. In addition, he said, 47 pieces, 7 of them described as "very important masterpieces," had been taken from the exhibition room of the museum in Baghdad. The start of a thorough search of the museum was delayed until the staff could obtain a generator to provide electricity. The museum's director of research, Donny George, said about 1,500 missing treasures had been returned, many by local people who said they were safeguarding them until troops could protect the museum.
The number of missing items could rise as the remaining storage areas are checked. However, this is encouraging news:

- The number of items known to be unaccounted for is roughly 10% of the museum's total inventory, and the vast majority of those were (while undoubtedly valuable) non-exhibited and presumably not among the most important parts of the collection.

- Of the items known to have been taken, roughly 10% have been returned or retrieved (a larger figure than many had hoped);

- The most important items were the 47 taken from or destroyed in the exhibition hall; this figure can't represent more than a few percent of the exhibited items.

Accordingly, the vast majority of the museum's collection is thought to be intact, and only a tiny fraction of the museum's most prized items were harmed. This is hardly the cultural catastrophe I had feared.