Book criticizes Iraq relics’ safety

U.S. efforts to safeguard Iraq’s museums and archaeological sites after the start of the war were belated, uncoordinated and fruitless, according to a book released this week by the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center.

“Antiquities Under Siege: Cultural Heritage Protection After the Iraq War” portrays a cumulative failure by diplomats and experts in cultural heritage to protect “the priceless remnants of the earliest known civilization on Earth.”