Waves of looters are combing over Iraqi archaeological sites, picking them clean and disposing of artifacts on the black market. “The Iraqi police force, which disintegrated at the end of the war, is not only powerless but afraid to stop the heavily armed groups that now prowl over dozens of sites. American soldiers are generally too occupied with reducing street crime and restoring basic services like electricity to pay much attention. As for the people who live near the big archaeological sites in southern Iraq, they became so poor under Mr. Hussein that they are grasping at any means to make money.”