Relief

Reading this, I breathe a sigh of relief.

The world-famous treasures of Nimrud, unaccounted for since Baghdad fell two months ago, have been located in good condition in the country's Central Bank in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water, U.S. occupation authorities announced Saturday.

...One of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds, the objects have not been exhibited since the early 1990s. Their discovery will help assuage the worries of archaeologists fretting for the country's ancient heritage.

This is really good news I will unabashedly rejoice at, but it still doesn't let the "U.S. occupation authorities" off my short list. I priase the Iraqis who seemed to have the foresight to hide and protect these items from looters (I seem to remember something coming to light about something similar happening at the Iraqi National Library) but that had to happen because "U.S. occupation authorities" did not help them. Still shameful. Besides, there are still important pieces missing.

"It is a great relief that so much of the museum's main collection is safe and in good condition," said Pietro Cordone, the provisional authority's senior adviser on cultural affairs.

But, he added: "There is no room for complacency. There are still important items that are missing from the museum's collection."

All of a sudden they are so important, when before the looting started they were an unimportant distraction. Humph. I hope those important items are eventually found, but they are probably in private collections by now.