A Museum’s Savior, A Shameless Self-Promoter, Or Both?

When Marine Reservist Matthew Bogdanos led an improvised mission to recover the thousands of artifacts looted from the Baghdad Museum of Art after the American invasion, he quickly acheived not only success, but fame in the art world, fame which he has savvily leveraged into a lucrative career as a public speaker, even as he continues to pursue stolen art. “With this high profile has come criticism — from some museum officials, archeologists, and soldiers in other branches of the military who served in Iraq.”