Subject: The Looting of the Iraq Museum: An Interview with Donny George

Subject: The Looting of the Iraq Museum: An Interview with Donny George

Friends and colleagues: The tragic 2003 looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad should remind us all of the importance of cultural patrimony and the need to deter the plunder of institutions and sites everywhere. No better spokesman for this message can be found than Dr. Donny George, who relates his first-hand experience in The Looting of the Iraq Museum: An Interview with Donny George, the latest video feature on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel (http://www.archaeologychannel.org/).

Dr. Donny George, former Director-General of Iraqi Museums, and Keynote Speaker at The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival in May 2008, has been recalling for worldwide audiences the events of April 2003, when his Iraq Museum was badly vandalized after American forces entered Baghdad. In this interview, Dr. George recounts how he and his staff tried to protect the Museum and how they felt when their efforts failed. He describes the damage inflicted there as well as to other Iraqi cultural heritage institutions and sites and emphasizes the importance of these events to all of humanity.

Richard M. Pettigrew, Ph.D., RPA President and Executive Director Archaeological Legacy Institute http://www.archaeologychannel.org/