US Says It Will Help “Restore” Baghdad Museum

The United States says it will help restore the Iraq National Museum. “Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Baghdad museum was ‘one of the great museums in the world’ and that the US would take a leading role in restoring it. Coalition forces were criticised for not protecting the institution, which housed many treasures from ‘the cradle of civilisation’, when it was ransacked on Friday. But critics say it’s too late. ‘And it’s gone, and it’s lost. If Marines had started before, none of this would have happened. It’s too late. It’s no use. It’s no use’.”

See pictures of damage to the museum here