From Yahoo
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The famed Iraq National Museum, home of extraordinary Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections and rare Islamic texts, sat empty Saturday — except for shattered glass display cases and cracked pottery bowls that littered the floor.

In an unchecked frenzy of cultural theft, looters who pillaged government buildings and businesses after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime also targeted the museum. Gone were irreplaceable archaeological treasures from the Cradle of Civilization.

Reference is also made to the fact that while staff had attempted to lock some items away, the vaults were also broken into (perhaps, it is suggested, by people associated with the museum).

UNESCO has been warning about this for a while. It appears that the coalition brought enough troops and weaponry to defeat the regime, however it does not appear that they are able to prevent the people from defeating themselves.

"As people throughout Iraq celebrate the arrival of freedom, America celebrates with them," says the US President. While the ABC reports the head of the fledgling American-led civil administration in Iraq, retired General Jay Garner, as saying it is unfair on US troops that the media is focusing on the widespread looting.

Perhaps the situation is even more unfair for the people who have lost their personal property, their livelihood, heritage, possibly even their lives. Of those many who did welcome the coalition troops, how many expected that with their arrival would come order, not chaos? Organisation, rather than occupation on a budget? This shouldn't have been unexpected.