Iraq’s national museum reopens after being closed for years
Shuttered for a decade, Iraq’s national museum reopens its doors
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BAGHDAD — Iraq’s national museum in Baghdad officially reopened to the public Saturday, 12 years after it was shuttered because of the looting of thousands of ancient artifacts in the days following the U.S.-led invasion.
As Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi cut the red ribbon at the Iraq Museum, officials said the decision to reopen ahead of schedule was intended to send a message of defiance to Islamic State militants who released a video last week showing black-clad men destroying museum statues in the northern city of Mosul.
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Iraqi authorities have worked for years to recover some of the estimated 15,000 items stolen from the national museum in 2003, when looting went largely unchecked by U.S. forces. Some 4,300 have been returned, from countries including Lebanon, Jordan and the United States, according to Iraqi officials.
The contrast between images of the destruction in Mosul’s museum and the gleaming new display cases in Baghdad serves as a reminder that Iraq remains a country divided. While the extremists retain their grip in Iraq’s north and west, a growing sense of confidence is apparent in Baghdad, where a long-standing midnight curfew was lifted last month.
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“Our hearts were broken when those artifacts were broken in Mosul,” said Qassim Sudani, a spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. “Now the national museum has reopened, it will be a lung that allows the Iraqi people to breathe again.”
The Islamic State has systematically laid waste to ancient tombs and artifacts in areas the group controls. It maintains that pre-Islamic icons and statues are forbidden under its extremist interpretation of Islam. Still, officials suspect that the group has sold off items small enough to be smuggled out of the country on the black market.
I hope ISIS don't destroy it anytime in the future though. 
