November 23, 2006

 

Dr. Kathryn Slanski

"Kathryn Slanski is an Assyriologist and a lecturer in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations [at Yale University] whose research in ancient Mesopotamia dovetails with her interest in the modern Middle East. ... As looters search only for precious objects, they destroy the physical place in which those objects are found; they search for things which will bring them cash, but also destroy the archaeological record so valuable to scholars. 'That looks very bad for future understanding of our past,' Slanski said. 'We will get some of the objects back, but we will never be able to reconstruct how they looked, the relationship in which they lie with other objects around them.' Slanski and her colleagues joke that when the war is over, they will go to Iraq and excavate the dirt that the looters threw to the side, but, as Slanski said, 'the way things are now, the future looks pretty black.' As a self-proclaimed eternal optimist, however, Slanski is not content simply to rest her feet on a soapbox; her dark clothing and soft voice hide her willingness to get her hands dirty."

"In the summer of 2004, she and her husband, Eckart Frahm, a professor in Assyriology—whom she met at an Annual International Assyriologists Conference in 2000—went to Amman, Jordan, with a few colleagues on a three-million-dollar USAID grant. [this was the USAID Iraq-HEAD project, headquartered at Stony Brook University] They gave daily lectures to the 56 Iraqi professors and graduate students who came, provided them with scanned literature and images they didn’t have access to, and invested in building construction and computer equipment. ... At the end of the program, Slanski and Frahm were optimistic that the following summer, they’d be able to bring the most promising students to study abroad at Yale. The second summer program never happened. As the situation in Iraq worsened, the State Department pulled their funding and diverted all of it to security; it also became impossible for the Iraqi students to leave their own country. 'It was too dangerous for these Iraqis to be associated with us,' Slanski said. Her voice was quiet as she spoke of her students, her nose a little red. She hasn’t heard from them in over a year. 'I’m heartbroken when I think about them. They’re not the only individuals in Iraq, but they’re the ones I know,' she said. 'And statistically, some of them have died. They would have to have died.' Thousands of archaeological sites are destroyed on a daily basis; all academics who could have left Iraq have done so because of threats to their lives and their families.”

Reference
• L. Yao, "War Stories. Dodging bullets or trading barbs, Yalies throw themselves into the Iraq war," in The Yale Herald (Connecticut), 42, 11 (November 16, 2006)

 

Iraqcrisis Digest feature poll

Do you like the inclusion of the new Iraqcrisis Digest feature on this IW&A Blog? You know, the automatic (well, sort of) mailing list digests interspersed between my regular posts? Please let me know by voting at the Iraqcrisis Digest feature poll. It will only take a second. Thanks!

 

Iraqcrisis digest, Vol 1 #744 - 1 msg

From: iraqcrisis-request@listhost.uchicago.edu
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Date: Nov 23, 2006 12:00 PM
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Today's Topics:

1. Forged Iraq art used to fund terrorism -UK police (Gerstenblith, Patty)

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Forged Iraq art used to fund terrorism -UK police
22 Nov 2006 16:12:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

More LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Criminal gangs in Iraq and the Middle =
East
are selling forged art works on auction Web site eBay and in antique =
markets
in Britain to help fund terrorism, British police said on Wednesday.

The extent of the scam was not clear but the items, purportedly Iraqi or
heirlooms from the region, could each sell for up to a couple of =
thousand
pounds (dollars), according to London police's Arts and Antiques Unit.

"Archaeological stuff is being exported by the ton-load from Middle =
Eastern
countries and (the money) is going back into the Middle East area and =
some
will inevitably end up in the hands of terrorists," Detective Constable =
Ian
Lawson told reporters.

"We know for a fact there is a terrorism link."

"There's a trend where items are faked in Iraq and brought into the UK," =
he
said.

The goods were then sold to tourists or minor collectors.

In the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, thousands of
treasures were looted from the country and smuggled out to collectors =
across
the world.

Lawson said criminals had got round subsequent bans on the sale of any =
item
taken out of Iraq after 1990 by labelling artworks as "Mesopotamian".

Lawson, speaking at an exhibition of faked and forged artwork seized by =
his
London unit, held up as an example a "Mesopotamian" cone supposedly =
dating
from 2,100 to 1,800 BC.

"We have reason to believe the funds are going back into Iraq possibly =
to
fund terrorism or insurgents there," Lawson said, although he added =
there
had been no prosecutions so far.

Article posted by
Patty Gerstenblith
Professor, DePaul University
College of Law

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November 22, 2006

 

Dorothy & Donny

I'm glad to see that Dr. Dorothy King got to know the real Dr. Donny George: "I can't go into details of my interview of Dr. George today as I promised it to Minerva*, but I will say that I have changed my mind about the man completely. He had solid answers for every question, and the evidence he showed during his lecture [at the British Museum, see my November 17 post Donny George moving to Stony Brook] clarified a lot of issues I had had with press reports about the looting of the Iraq Museum. There is nothing more that he could have done to safeguard the Museum, and the Americans had other priorities. And the worst 'evidence' I was given against him was frankly rather silly. There is propaganda on both sides. ... the man is brilliant and came across as being honest and deeply committed to Iraq and Iraqi archaeology. I was very impressed with all the work he is continuing to do for Iraqi archaeology, still collaborating with those now in charge, and that he has maintained friendly relations with his successors, contrary to press reports. They all want to do their best for Iraqi archaeology rather than get involved in politics. I've hugely miss-judged the man, and apologise for it. I'm often surprised how little some American officials I meet know about Islam/Muslim culture or the Middle East. If the State Department and Pentagon have any sense, they'll get Dr. George to advise them."

Reference
• D. King, "Iraqi Archaeology and Donny George," in PhDiva, online, November 17, 2006

 

Iraqcrisis digest, Vol 1 #743 - 4 msgs

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Today's Topics:

1. The joint letter of the Middle East Studies
Association and the American Association
of University Professors on the killing of
Iraqi academics (cejo@uchicago.edu)

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The joint letter of the Middle East Studies Association and the
American Association of University
Professors on the killing of Iraqi academics:

http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/about/cafmenaletters.htm#NouriKamalalMaliki

'November 10, 2006

Honorable Nouri Kamal al-Maliki
Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq
c/o The Embassy of Iraq
1801 P Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036 USA
Fax: (202) 462-5066

Dear Prime Minister al-Maliki:

We write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association
(MESA) and the American
Association of University (AAUP) to express our grave concern over the
killing of two of Iraq's
most prominent academics: Isam al-Rawi, a professor in the Department
of Geology at the University
of Baghdad and president of the Union of University Professors, and
Jassim al-Asadi, Dean of the
University of Baghdad's School of Administration and Economics.

Professor al-Rawi was killed by unknown gunmen on October 30, 2006, on
his way to work. Then, on
November 2, 2006, in an act which many observers see as revenge for
the earlier killing, unknown
gunmen murdered Professor al-Asadi, his wife and son as they passed by
car through the
neighborhood of al-Adhamiyya.

Their murder highlights the startling fact that over 180 university
professionals in Iraq have
been killed since the 2003 US-led occupation and thousands of
academics, teachers, clinicians,
writers and artists have fled your country. We note that entire
academic departments at Baghdad
University and on other campuses have been forced to close down and
are no longer able to fulfill
their educational and research missions.

As we have previously noted, the present Government of Iraq has done
little to ensure the safety
of academics since it took office. A significant portion of the
current violence against academics
has been perpetrated by sectarian militias affiliated with the ruling
political coalitions.
Professors have been threatened, harmed, kidnapped and assassinated
because of their actual or
alleged political affiliations, or because they failed to respond
resolutely to demands of
students for special treatment. Communities of students are becoming
politicized in a way that
threatens the institutionalization of tolerance and the protection of
intellectual diversity.

We ask your Excellency to recognize that the destruction of Iraq's
intellectual and academic class
through murder and mass exodus is a profound challenge to the future
of Iraq and that you take
immediate action to:

1) Secure the campuses in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq;
2) Affirm the independence of Iraq's system of higher education,
immunize it against sectarian politics as far as possible and provide
for it a budget that is institutionally protected from partisan or sectarian
pressures; and
3) Identify the murderers of Professors al-Rawi and al-Asadi and bring
them to justice.

Please know that we remain ready to take steps, together and with
sister organizations, to promote
programs and policies in Iraq and on behalf of the international
community of scholars and
researchers that will resolutely address this disturbing situation.

Sincerely,

Juan R.I. Cole
MESA President

Roger W. Bowen
AAUP General Secretary

cc: Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie
The Embassy of Iraq
1801 P Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036 USA
Fax: (202) 462-5066 '

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