] The United States has pledged to recover and repair the
] priceless antiquities looted from Iraq's national museum
] in the wake of the entry of US troops.
]
] Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Baghdad museum
] was "one of the great museums in the world" and that the
] US would take a leading role in restoring it.
]
] Coalition forces were criticised for not protecting the
] institution, which housed many treasures from "the cradle
] of civilisation", when it was ransacked on Friday.
]
] The world's foremost experts on Iraqi heritage will
] gather for an emergency meeting on Thursday to count the
] cost of the looting of the country's cultural sites.

US 'will repair' Iraqi heritage

] In essence, that's the question being debated by
] journalists and commentators after six days of "grunt-eye
] view" footage shot from rumbling tanks and speeding
] Humvees.
]
] Are the "embeds," as the reporters assigned to military
] units are known in current parlance, too cozy with the
] U.S. military forces they're in Iraq to cover?
]
] Unfortunately I couldn't find the transcript of the
] interview I heard with the New York Times' Chris Hedges
] on NPR on Saturday (I understand that NPR is behind in
] its transcriptions), because the veteran foreign
] correspondent -- Central America, Bosnia and the West
] Bank -- spoke eloquently about why he would only be able
] to do his work as a "unilateral" or
] free-to-move-about-as-you-please reporter. "Embed" did
] not compute for Chris Hedges, who recently published War
] Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.

SF Gate: War On Iraq: War Blog:

] SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 -- The antiwar rally here
] Saturday began much the same way as a half-dozen others
] before it, with thousands of placard-carrying protesters
] marching through the streets. But this one was also
] noticeably different.
]
] Among the crowd of a few thousand, there were clear signs
] that war protesters are embarking on a new phase. Many
] more of the protesters' placards took aim directly at
] President Bush: "Bush Must Go!" "Impeach Bush!" Voter
] registration tables urging protesters to "Vote for
] change!" also dotted the city park that served as the
] rallying point.

Antiwar Groups Shifting Their Focus to Bush

] A US military contractor accused of human rights
] violations has won a multi-million-dollar contract to
] police post-Saddam Iraq, The Observer can reveal.
]
] DynCorp, which has donated more than £100,000 to the
] Republican Party, began recruiting for a private police
] force in Iraq last week on behalf of the US State
] Department.
]
] The awarding of such a sensitive contract to DynCorp has
] caused consternation in some circles over the company's
] policing record. A British employment tribunal recently
] forced DynCorp to pay £110,000 in compensation to a UN
] police officer it unfairly sacked in Bosnia for
] whistleblowing on DynCorp colleagues involved in an
] illegal sex ring.

US Firm With Sex Scandal Record Wins Iraqi Security Contract

] It was the day of the looter. They trashed the German
] Embassy and threw the ambassador's desk into the yard. I
] rescued the European Union flag - flung into a puddle of
] water outside the visa section - as a mob of middle-aged
] men, chadored women and screaming children rifled through
] the consul's office and hurled Mozart records and German
] history books from a window.
]
] The Slovakian Embassy was broken into a few hours later.

US blind to looters' fury

] Nabhal Amin, deputy director at the Iraqi National
] Museum, blamed the destruction on the United States for
] not taking control of the situation on the streets.
]
] On Saturday, Unesco - the UN's cultural agency - has
] urged the US and Britain to deploy troops at Iraq's key
] archaeological sites and museums to stop widespread
] looting and destruction.
]
] Armed men have been roaming the streets of Baghdad since
] the city was taken by US troops on Wednesday.
]
] Shops, government offices, presidential palaces and even
] hospitals have all been looted.

Looters ransack Baghdad museum

] 1253: Private Jessica Lynch, the American prisoner-of-war
] rescued from an Iraqi hospital, is on her way back to the
] US from Germany with other injured personnel, a military
] spokesman says.
]
] 1140: A rewards programme is being established to
] encourage Iraqis to give information to coalition forces
] to help them to capture key leaders of Saddam Hussein's
] regime, says US Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks. He said
] the amounts offered would be "appropriate".

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq latest: At-a-glance

] CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., April 10 (UPI) -- Wives of Camp
] Pendleton Marines involved in the war in Iraq have been
] receiving crank calls from individuals claiming to work
] for the Red Cross who regretfully, and falsely, inform
] them that their spouses had been killed in action.
]
] In a statement, Camp Pendleton reminded military families
] that genuine casualty notifications are not made by
] telephone or by the Red Cross.
]
] "Individuals falsely identifying themselves as Red Cross
] representatives have made prank calls to Camp Pendleton
] spouses claiming that their loved ones overseas have been
] killed," the Marine Corps said in a brief statement. "The
] Marine Corps does not utilize the Red Cross for casualty
] notification. Marine Corps and Navy representatives
] conduct all casualty notifications in person for Camp
] Pendleton."
]
] Camp Pendleton is the home base of the 1st Marine
] Division, which battled its way into Baghdad and
] continues to engage Iraqi resisters.
]
] "I honestly can't even fathom someone with that
] mentality," a Marine wife named "Julia" told The San
] Diego Union-Tribune Thursday. "I can't even go there in
] my mind."
]
] "I would assume that a young spouse could believe that
] kind of call and her world could be shattered," she
] added.
]
] The Red Cross said last week that families of service
] members in Michigan, Delaware and Alabama had reported
] receiving similar

More G.I. wives get hoax casualty calls

] BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi capital sank into anarchy
] on Friday as residents went on a looting spree in full
] view of U.S. forces.
]
] As troops still battled to contain pockets of Iraqi
] fighters scattered around the city, thousands of ordinary
] citizens helped themselves to anything they could lay
] their hands on in shops, factories, schools, hospitals
] and government buildings.
]
] Young and old, men and women rifled through bomb-damaged
] buildings as well as areas unaffected by fighting.
]
] "Is this your liberation?" one frustrated shopkeeper
] screamed at the crew of a U.S. tank as a gang of youths
] helped themselves to everything in his small hardware
] store and carted booty off in the wheelbarrows that had
] also been on sale.
]
] "Hell, it ain't my job to stop them," drawled one young
] marine, lighting a cigarette as he looked on. "Goddamn
] Iraqis will steal anything if you let them. Look at
] them."

Is This Freedom, Ask Iraqis as Chaos Reigns

] LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A gunman in a speeding car opened
] fire on a motorcade carrying "gangsta" rapper Snoop Dogg
] and his bodyguards, slightly injuring one person and
] leaving police on Friday with few clues as to who might
] be shooting at one of rap's biggest stars.
]
]
] The sometimes controversial 31-year-old rapper, whose
] real name is Calvin Broadus, was questioned by Los
] Angeles police detectives after the Thursday night
] shooting, an LAPD (news - web sites) spokesman said, but
] was unable to shed much light on the incident.
]
] "We talked to him last night and he was very
] cooperative," Sgt. John Pasquariello said. "He just
] doesn't know a lot."

Rapper Snoop Dogg Unscathed as Bullets Fly in L.A.