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Many Stolen Relics Still Missing from Iraq

More than 2.5 years after looters sacked Iraq`s National Museum in Baghdad, police forces throughout the world are still searching for thousands of stolen items, including a handful of the most famous artifacts in history. Representatives of these agencies said there is no systematic coordination, and they are relying on a shifting set of partnerships to bring the thieves to account.

Iraq is considered the birthplace of modern civilization, where ancient peoples left behind a cornucopia of cultural heritage at thousands of sites over thousands of years. The biblical patriarch Abraham in pre-Arab times lived in what is today Iraq, and Imam Ali, the founder of Shiite Islam, was martyred there.

U.S. military sources say forces in Iraq have no systematic way of investigating the missing objects, and in the ongoing insurgency neither U.S. nor Iraqi forces can justify using scarce manpower to guard sites in the countryside, where widespread looting has continued unchecked since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country.