LONDON Iraq museum curator Dr Donny George is calling for US forces to patrol Iraq's borders, in order to block the smuggling of looted antiquities. Speaking at an international meeting at the British Museum in London on 29 April, he described how he had passed through the Iraqi-Jordanian frontier just three days earlier, without any inspection. "The Americans are not patrolling the borders. It would be very easy just to spend five or ten minutes checking cars and luggage," he told the London meeting. Otherwise there is nothing to stop smugglers taking out looted antiquities. UK Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who was also on the platform, promised to raise the matter with the British Foreign Secretary "at the earliest possible moment". Dr George had earlier in the day received an emotional welcome at a private session of the meeting of international experts on Iraq. For the past few weeks, he has repeatedly risked his own personal security to protect the National Museum and its collection. Even the trip to London was hazardous. He and British Museum keeper Dr John Curtis, who had gone out to Iraq, were robbed at gunpoint on the long overland journey from Baghdad to the Jordanian border. The first-hand description of events in Baghdad shocked the international experts. Dr George described how staff had been forced to abandon the museum in the morning of 8 April, when members of Saddam Hussein's militia "came into our garden and began firing on American tanks." Three hours later Dr George and his colleagues attempted to return, but were forced back by fighting. Small numbers of staff later came back, but they were unable to prevent the first looters from entering the museum on 10 April. One of the museum employees implored US tanks to move slightly closer to protect the building, but they refused, saying they had no authority. "The Americans just had to move their tank 50 metres, but they said they had no orders. Why did the Americans deliberately leave the museum unguarded?", Dr George asked at the London meeting. Looting continued until 12 April and on the following day Dr George and antiquities director Dr Jabir Khalil succeeded in making direct contact with senior US officials to plead for military protection for the museum. The promised tanks did not arrive until 16 April. Dr George is convinced that the first wave of looters were engaged in a planned operation, since they had glass-cutters and did not touch replicas which were on display. Instead, they immediately went for the masterpieces. The looters later broke down a bricked-up entrance, to penetrate doors leading to the basement vault. All 120 administrative offices were also looted, with papers strewn all over the floors. Assessing the losses Initial reports suggested that the museum had lost most of the collection. Senior museum official Nabhal Amin was quoted on 12 April as saying, "they have looted or destroyed 170,000 items", representing the full inventory. Fortunately, the scale of the losses now seems to have been much smaller, thanks to precautionary measures. Dr George told The Art Newspaper that only around 100 objects had been left in the public galleries, items which were too heavy or fragile to move. The majority of these were looted, including many extremely important objects. Among the ancient masterpieces probably lost from the galleries are the Warka Vase of 3100 BC, gold from the lyre of Ur, gold rosettes and a copper cup from Tell Ubaid and a headless statue of King Entemena of Lagash. Other stone statues which proved too difficult to remove were damaged, but some large stone reliefs escaped relatively unscathed. The situation inside the vault is more difficult to assess, since the area has not been officially entered by museum staff. But, by peering through the hole broken into the brick wall, Dr George and Dr Curtis were able to see that in the first section, pots and other objects had been swept off shelves and abandoned on the floor. The extent of the losses remain unknown, but the hope is that in the darkened basement the looters would have found it difficult to locate the items of major financial value. Dr George believes that only a small proportion of the 170,000 objects in the vaults may have been looted, although this will only be confirmed after months of checking. The National Museum's most valuable objects are now thought to be safe in the vaults of the central bank. Although it was known that the recently discovered Nimrud gold treasures had been stored there, Dr George told The Art Newspaper that gold coins and other portable valuables had also been deposited at the central bank. Although the ground floor of the bank was looted, rubble from US bombing or artillery fortuitously blocked the entrance to the vaults. This has not yet been cleared, but the expectation is that the museum's most valuable objects are safe. But despite this latest encouraging news from Baghdad, it has to be stressed that the full extent of the losses will only become apparent once the museum vaults have been properly examined and the central bank safe has been checked. It remains clear that the looting and vandalism at the National Museum represents a tragedy which will take years to deal with. Next steps The hope now is that looters will voluntarily return objects to the museum, and this is already happening. Every day people are bringing back objects, including a figure of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, which was returned in three fragments. There is currently an amnesty, with no questions being asked about returned objects, and eventually rewards may be offered for important items. Dr George praised local imams for calling for the return of looted museum items. Both the British Museum and Unesco are urgently planning to send out teams of international experts to assist the National Museum to deal with the situation. British Museum director Neil MacGregor and Dr Curtis are liaising closely with the Metropolitan Museum, the Louvre, the Berlin Museum and the Hermitage, as well as with university departments specialising in Iraqi archaeology. But Mr MacGregor and Dr Curtis constantly stress the importance of assisting Iraqi colleagues, rather than imposing western solutions. Funds are already available to send out specialists, but there are still concerns over whether Iraq is safe for civilian personnel. Sending equipment will also be difficult before the proper opening of Baghdad airport. So far attention has been largely focussed on the National Museum, but there has also been serious looting and damage to other museums. Mosul Museum, the most important regional collection, was hit by looting even more badly that the museum in Baghdad. Another pressing priority is to assess damage to archaeological sites, and there is a strong feeling that this should be undertaken under the authority of Iraqi archaeologists. Meanwhile, diplomatic moves are underway to encourage the UN Security Council to take tough action to outlaw the trade in looted Iraqi antiquities. The fear is that when existing sanctions are rescinded, this will remove one barrier to the import of Iraqi antiquities. The hope, therefore, is that the Security Council will require states to introduce a total ban on the import of all Iraqi antiquities for a limited period. UNESCO director-general Koïchiro Matsuura raised this proposal with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on 30 April and the matter is now being considered by Security Council members. Preliminary and partial list of looted objects in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad (Numbers in [] brackets refer to illustrations, numbers in {}brackets refer to page numbers in F. Basmachi, Treasures of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad 1976. "IM" numbers are registration numbers) "Warka Vase" alabaster vase decorated with reliefs, c. 3100 BC. From Uruk IM 19606. [31] {396} "Warka Head" life-size female head, c. 3100 BC. From Uruk. IM 45434. [21] {396} Headless, inscribed statue of King Entemena of Lagash, c. 2400 BC IM 5. [538] {398} Ivory of lion attacking Nubian, c. 850-750 BC. From Nimrud IM 56642. [175] {405} Handle formed by double figure of nude female. From Nimrud IM 56346. [176] {405} Ivory chair back with five figures, c. 850-750 BC. From Nimrud IM 61898. [178] {405} Ivory chair-back with sun-disc symbol, c. 850-750 BC. From Nimrud IM 62722. [177] {405} Limestone statue of Hermes, c. 200 BC. From Nineveh IM 59094. [198] {406} Head from time of Trajan. From Hatra IM 73039. [234 centre] {408} Marble statue of Poseidon, c. AD 160. From Hatra IM 73005. [199] {406} Head of marble statue of Apollo, body of statue smashed c. AD 160. From Hatra IM 73004. [200] {406} Marble statue of Eros, c. AD 160. From Hatra IM 73041. [201] {406} Lid of marble casket. From Hatra IM 58068. [221] {407} Limestone head in Parthian style. From Hatra IM 56777. [234 left] {408} Limestone head of Tyche. From Hatra IM 73010. [234 right] {408} Bronze head from a Greek figure of Nike. From Hatra. Head from marble statue of a seated goddess. From Hatra IM 58086. [245] {408} Wooden door from mosque in Mosul, 12th century AD IM A677. [277] {410} Islamic wooden pillars. Reconstructed lyre from Ur. Gold stripped off IM 8694. [82] {399} Terracotta lions, c. 1800 BC. From Tell Harmal, smashed IM 52559-60. [107] {401} Caryatid Assyrian god. From Khorsabad, smashed IM 2596311949. [140] {403} For complete photographs from the 1976 catalogue of the Iraq National Museum click here. Pieces believed to be missing are highlighted in red.