Okay,
The other night on the website I promised to let everyone in on something big, so here it is. There are of course some details I can't give out, but I will give you the basic story. Attached are some of the pictures so you have proof. I think this is really cool. I know Courtney will be jealous, because she loves this stuff. However, for Courtney to have been here she would have to be in the Army and living in a combat zone, which kinda’ sucks.
Now here is the story.
Iraqi Army, acting on a tip from local informants, was able to recover millions of dollars worth of ancient artifacts.
There have been civilizations in this area of the world pretty much since there have been people on earth. The basics on Iraqi history are as follows:
Mesopotamia – 10000 BC
Summarian – 3000 BC
Akkadian – 2500 BC
Ur – 2100 BC
Babylon – 2000 BC
Assyrian – 1600 BC
Babylon part II – the son of Babylon – 650 BC
Greeks and Persians kind of shared it – 500 BC
Arab (Islamic) – 600 AD
Mongolian – 1250 AD
Turkish – 1350 AD
Ottoman Empire – 1500 AD
British Empire – 1918
Independence – 1932
All of these dates are rounded up or down, but you should get the general idea. This place is old. Since people have lived here for a while, and people always have stuff that they make or use, it stands to reason that there is a lot of really old crap in this country. Well, the old ruler of the country, Saddam Hussein, gathered up almost all of this stuff, and kept it all for him self. He put some of it in museums in Baghdad, but most of it he kept hidden away from the people. He was such a turd. Anywho, he put a lot of this old stuff in places where people didn’t live, and surrounded it with guards and stuff. One of these ruins sites is not far from where I am.
When Saddam politely removed himself from office, with some assistance of course, most of these sites were left abandoned. So in come the looters. These pieces of crap, decided that it would be a really great idea to rob the future of Iraq from seeing and learning about the glorious past of this country. The things the people from this area of the world were able to accomplish 5000 plus years ago, are mind blowing. I think all would agree that the history of this country is rich and magnificent. Well, I guess not all. Those who apparently disagreed decided that it was wise to take several artifacts from these ruins and attempt to sell them for a quick buck.
Government flight to Kuwait – FREE
Long Road Convoy to Iraq – FREE
Pirate copy of Oceans 12 on DVD - $3 US
History of Iraq – Priceless
Well here comes the good news. The Iraqi Army (IA) was able to recover several items taken from the ruins. A local informant brought information about the name and location of one of these looters. The looter was picked up by IA, and agreed to ID the people who bought these items, and were attempting to sell them. IA took the looter, had him ID the buyer. The buyer was arrested, and then IA conducted a raid on the buyer’s house, and recovered numerous artifacts. We here called the director of the local museum, who came and verified the ages of these items. Many items are from the Babylonian age. A few go as far back as the Assyrian age. The newest items in the collection are from the Islamic age. You can use the handy history lesson above to reference the ages of these items, but is boils down to anywhere from 500-5000 years ago.
Today there was a press conference here, where an IA battalion commander, and friend of mine, announced the recovery of these items, and their safe return to the museum.
There is a lot in the news about how the IA and the Iraqi Police (IP) aren’t doing anything positive. Let me tell you something. These guys may not be perfect, and there are things they still have to learn, but these men are some of the hardest working people I have ever met. The IA battalion commander (I mentioned earlier), his intelligence officer, his executive officer, an IP officer I met a few weeks ago, an IP platoon leader, that platoon leader’s commander, the local guys we have working security here: ALL OF THEM ARE PEOPLE I TRUST WITH MY LIFE. That is not an easy thing to say, but I mean it. These men I just listed are great men, who believe in their country, they want it to be safe, and they work more hours in a day than most of us do in 3, trying to make that peace a reality.
Attached are the pictures of all the cool stuff I was able to see and touch for the last few days. It was probably the first and only time I will be able to play with real life ancient artifacts. I will give a brief explanation for the photos. Collection 3 and 4 are just good overviews of all the stuff. Collection 5 - the statue of the woman in the front is one of the older pieces from the Summarian Age. The Lion of Babylon is obvioulsy from the Babylonian age. The stamps. These things are cool. They look like necklace pieces, but there are stamps. They would be on a stick, and rolled over wet clay to make a tablet. How cool is that? The stone woman is Summarian Bablyonian, the brass woman is Persian and very rare, and the smelting pot is from the Islamic age. The black stone was a necklace piece with really intricate engraving from the Assyrian age. The coins are all from the Islamic age. The small coins are all real silver, which shows the lack of wealth of the kingd
om during that time, because the are so small (about 3/4 the size of a dime). The copper braclets are from the Islamic age. The lion tablet is kind of a blurry picture, but is a very small stone carving of two kings having thier lions fight each other, it is from the Assyrian age.
Pretty cool stuff, huh?
Love,
Rob “not quite Indian Jones, but closer that all of you” Meehl
