Iraqi looting sparks U.S. resignations

Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest the looting of Baghdad’s National Museum of Antiquities.

Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, each appointed by former President Clinton, said they were disappointed by the U.S. military’s failure to protect Iraq’s historical artifacts.

“The tragedy was not prevented, due to our nation’s inaction,” Sullivan, the committee’s chairman, wrote in his letter of resignation.

Noting that American scholars had told the State Department about the location of Iraqi museums and historic sites in Iraq, he said the president “is burdened by a compelling moral obligation to plan for and try to prevent indiscriminate looting and destruction.” Lanier criticized “the administration’s total lack of sensitivity and forethought regarding the Iraq invasion and the loss of cultural treasures.”

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the United States “in liberating Iraq worked very hard to protect infrastructure in Iraq and to preserve the valued resources.”

“It is unfortunate that there was looting and damage done,” she said.