The Great $50 Million Art Swindle. Forbes, February 6, 2001
"Many are calling it the biggest art fraud ever. When all the figures are in, art dealer Michel Cohen will have taken the art world for at least $50 million, and maybe half as much again or more ... It's a jealous and wary system, where each player guards sources and clients, but it is built on an essential trust. This is the system that has made the art market the largest unregulated money market in the world--a market that Michel Cohen was in a position to loot."

FBI to Examine Photo 'Forgeries.' The Times [of London], August 17, 2001
"The FBI has begun an investigation into the suspected forgery of hundreds of works by one of America’s most famous photographers. Test showed that numerous 'vintage' prints by Lewis Hine, who is revered for his social realist pictures from the Depression, were printed on paper not available until more than a decade after his death in 1940. The investigation was prompted by a complaint from a dealer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, about Hine’s longtime collaborator, Walter Rosenblum, an acclaimed war photographer and the former president of the Photo League co-operative where Hine left his archives ... he was reported to have reached a confidential settlement out of court with six dealers to create a £690,000 fund to reimburse buyers of between 300 and 500 Hine prints who were unhappy with their purchases."

More Misleading Than Buying Sight Unseen.
The Art Newspaper [Great Britain], May 30, 2000
"The New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed an injunction against the Antique and Design Center, an art gallery based in New Windsor outside New York City, for selling fake works of art through eBay. Throughout 1999, the Antique and Design Center, which also operates under the name Antique Connection and sells on eBay through the ID 'sambuca914.' sold twenty-three works valued between $700 and $10,000 ... (The proprietors of the Antique and Design Center, Jill and Jerry Schuster, had no comment for the publication.) This will be the first case of fraud brought by the State against an online art retailer, but the Attorney General does not think that it will be the last. 'This is just the tip of the iceberg,' commented Mr Spitzer. He also added that several other galleries are currently under investigation."

Money Laundering Charges for Art Dealers, museum-security.org [originally from the New York Times], June 3 2001
"Two New York City art dealers, Shirley D. Sack, 73 and Arnold K. Katzen, 62, have been charged with conspiring to launder $4.1 million in drug money after being apprehended in an undercover sting in Boston, federal authorities said. According to the Associated Press, the two were arrested on Thursday at the Ritz Carlton Hotel as they attempted to sell paintings, which they claimed were originals by Modigliani and Degas, to a federal agent posing as a drug dealer. Alan M. Stewart, a Stamford, Conn., art dealer who was not present during the undercover sting, was charged with conspiring to set up the transaction. Court papers identified Ms. Sack as a wholesaler of art and jewelry, and principal of Shirley D. Sack, Ltd., 300 East 56th Street, and Mr. Katzen as principal of American European Art Associates, 1100 Madison Avenue. Federal authorities said their investigation began in March when an informant, who would later act as a go-between in Thursday's operation, told them that Ms. Sack had been attempting to sell a painting by Raphael and was prepared to accept payment in drug money or from organized crime figures."

Four Israelis Arrested Here for Stealing Judaica in Europe. museum-security.org. [originally from the Jerusalem Post], February 28, 2001
"A gang of Israelis is suspected of stealing valuable Judaica, ritual objects, and holy books from synagogues, museums, and private collections all over Europe, smuggling them into Israel, and reselling them. Tel Aviv police arrested four suspects on Monday and yesterday, central unit head Asst.- Cmdr. Menahem Frank said. Additional arrests are expected, he said, adding that at this point all the members of the gang appear to be Israelis. Police found $2 million worth of valuables that are believed to have been stolen in the Jerusalem home of one suspect."

Israeli Police Probe Art Theft Ring. museum-security.org, May 11, 1997 [original source: UPI; scroll to this article just below the middle of the page]
"Israeli security forces have located some 85 objects d'art slated for distribution in the underground circuit. The loot includes 76 Christian icon paintings and nine paintings from the 16th to 17th centuries valued at several hundred thousand dollars each. The investigation began when a local dealer reported that a colleague tried to sell him five famous paintings stolen from a Paris museum in February. Police contracted a dealer to meet with one suspect in a Tel Aviv apartment and pretend to close a deal. The alleged art trafficker, his partner, and dozens of works of art were captured in the sting operation. The two suspects, one a bank official and the other a supermarket owner, face charges of accepting stolen goods ... Police believe the group is part of a larger international ring of thieves and dealers."

Israeli Memorial Smuggles Murals. Washington Post. June 20, 2001
"In a secret operation, Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial has smuggled out of Ukraine fragments of murals by Polish-Jewish artist Bruno Schulz, sparking an international controversy. Yad Vashem maintains it was merely exercising its right to preserve the works of a prominent Jewish writer, artist and Holocaust victim, but Ukrainian and Polish officials say their removal was a crime."

An Ugly Real-Life Drama for Producer Garth Drabinsky.
Business Week, Septembe 29, 1998
"Garth Drabinsky's torturous fall from grace at Broadway production company Livent Inc. over the past four months has been one of the theater world's most spectacular declines. The wunderkind who brought the current hit Ragtime to the elegantly refashioned Ford Center in New York City had long been known as a lavish spender. But his indefinite suspension in August as Livent's creative director and vice-chairman -- amid allegations of 'serious' accounting irregularities -- stunned theater insiders. Lately, it has spawned frenetic legal action ... Embarrassingly, the news of Drabinsky's suspension, along with that of Vice-President and longtime Drabinsky associate Myron Gottlieb, was made public promptly that morning. A Livent press release damningly reported that 'an internal investigation has revealed serious irregularities' in company records that had been uncovered late the prior week. The release, which made news across North America, said 'millions of dollars' were involved and added that it was 'virtually certain' that results for 1996, 1997, and early 1998 would have to be restated."

Auction House Agrees to Settle Civil Lawsuits.
Art in America, November 2000
"Sotheby's and Christie's recently agreed to a settlement in the civil lawsuits brought against them by art buyers and sellers. According to the agreement, the auction houses will pay a total of $512 million to customers who accused them of fraud in a 1997 price-fixing scheme ... According to the Wall Street Journal, Sotheby's reached a separate agreement with its former chairman A. Alfred Taubman [who is Jewish, and a real estate mogul], requiring him to pay $156 million of the company's $256-million share of the civil settlement. He will also pay $30 million to the company's shareholders in a separate security-fraud lawsuit. The burden of Taubman's fines, however, will likely be offset by the increased value of his substantial holdings in Sotheby's stock, which has been soaring in the wake of news of the settlement."

Taubman Sentenced To One Year--Plus A Day,
Forbes, April 22, 2002
"A. Alfred Taubman, one of the highest-ranking American businessmen ever to be convicted of a serious crime, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison today for his role in a price-fixing scheme between his Sotheby's auction house and archrival Christie's. Taubman, the former chairman of both Sotheby's and Taubman Centers, a real estate trust, was convicted of the charges Dec. 5, 2001. His lawyer, Robert Fiske, argued today that he should receive no jail time in light of his age--Taubman is listed as 78, though there is some dispute--and his failing health and history of charitable good works, which the lawyer called 'legendary.' A U.S. Probation Department report recommended probation only ... Federal antitrust prosecutor John Greene argued that Taubman should be sentenced closer to the three-year maximum. U.S. District Judge George Daniels, citing Taubman's 'lack of contrition' and his 'arrogance and greed' in heading up the secretive scheme, said Taubman must go to jail for his crime to show that 'no one is above the law.' But Daniels did ratchet down the sentence because of the factors Fiske cited. The judge tacked on a $7.5 million fine, the amount calculated as 5% of the volume of commerce affected by the price-fixing scheme. Taubman will also have to pay for the cost of his incarceration [Taubman's lawyer] called Taubman 'a Horatio Alger story,' noting that his client started work at age 9 and made his fortune by building shopping malls and in related ventures, Fiske argued that Taubman's philanthropy was unique even for a man with a net worth of more than $700 million, which ranks him at No. 340 on Forbes' 400 Richest Americans list ... Taubman's lawyer also pointed to dozens of letters written on Taubman's behalf. In one letter, Leslie Wexner [also Jewish], chairman of The Limited , called Taubman 'the best person I know.' The Justice Department's Greene argued that deterrence demanded a jail term. He pointed out that most of the letters were from beneficiaries of Taubman's charity and that such letters were routine for a man of his wealth and influence. Greene also said Taubman's health was not too bad, noting that Taubman still golfs, hunts, fishes and travels around the world, albeit in a 'protective cocoon.' Since his conviction, Taubman has resigned from the Sotheby's board as well as from the real estate trust."

Los Angeles Police Department Press Release, Los Angeles Police Department [Media Relations Section], August 16, 1999
"On 8/13/99, a museum art thief was convicted of thefts of fine art from two Los Angeles museums. Nureet Granott, 50, used a fake driver’s license, a fraudulent credit card, and fictitious rental agreement information to gain control of over $22,000 of art through the art rental galleries of the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum of Art and the L.A. County Museum of Art in 1995. She then disappeared with the art until detectives of LAPD’s Art Theft Detail uncovered her true identity and tracked her down three years later at her fashionable home in Beverly Hills where she was using the art to decorate the house. During the investigation, the detectives uncovered a pattern of fraudulent practices that were facilitated through the use of various names, business DBAs and anonymous mail box addresses. These were used to fleece others for an estimated $100,000 in goods and services - from a luxury car to pet bills. During the museum thefts, Granott assumed the identity of her sister, Hanit Peretz, who is living in Israel. During many of the transactions, Granott was accompanied by her husband, David Yehuda Cohen. Both are also suspected of being involved in questionable real estate transactions. During the search warrant, detectives noted the personalized license plate of their vehicle to be 'EARN BIG.'"

Do You Have My Genuine Fake Derein?,
St. Petersburg Times, July 16, 2000
"While foraging at one garage sale, I paid a few bucks for a book called FAKE!, a biography of Elmyr de Hory, perhaps the greatest art forger of all time. De Hory was a Jewish Hungarian aristocrat and would-be artist who lived in Paris in the 1920s. He hobnobbed with Picasso, Matisse, Van Dongen, Modigliani, Vlaminck and Derain. During World War II, De Hory's parents were killed and the family riches confiscated. He was stranded in Paris with no allowance -- but an undiminished taste for high living. According to his account, a rich friend mistook one of his line drawings on his wall for a Picasso. She offered him 40 British pounds for it and resold it to a London art dealer for 150 pounds. That launched a 20-year forgery career. Never successful with his own work, De Hory cranked out a prodigious body of fakery. He could mimic almost all of his old acquaintances. To sell his fakes, he'd drop hints that his father had amassed a private collection in the 1930s that was later smuggled out of Hungary. He sold to art dealers and museums. His work started showing up in art books as originals. He forged so many Dufys that an expert once rejected two real Dufys as fraudulent because he mistakenly assumed that De Hory's hand and style were the correct ones. He finally was caught in 1967 and spent a few months in a Spanish jail."

Viva Blumberg: Lessons Learned,
Museum Security, November 9, 1999
"The arrest of Stephen Blumberg, dubbed 'the rare book thief of the century', stunned the library community. The length of Blumberg's career as a thief, and the sheer volume of his illegal collection, made an immense impression on library and security professionals nationwide. Blumberg alerted us to our vulnerabilities, prompting many institutions on an unprecedented cultural property protection binge. Ten years later, memories have faded, personnel have left the field, and cultural property protection is no longer the high priority it once was. It is time to re-visit some of the lessons learned from Blumberg, and think about the basics of Cultural Property Protection. Let us avoid another Blumberg ... 'Blumberg phobia' generated many questions, including: 'What type(s) of alarm system should we install in order to protect our valuable books and documents?' 'Is this alarm system better than that system?' 'What do we do about keys?' 'How do we secure our ground floor windows?' 'How can we be sure no stays behind after the facility is closed?' 'How can we insure the safety of our employees?' 'How much will an effective security system cost?' 'Should we do background checks on employees?' 'What procedures should we employ to correctly identify rare book reading room users?' 'Should we utilize security personnel and what type?' 'Should we arm security?' 'How do we train library personnel to be more attentive to security issues?' 'How do we recognize potential thieves/vandals in advance?' It continually baffles me, however, that some security professionals refuse to adopt a proactive approach to cultural property protection. Some folks still ask the same questions in spite of numerous high profile cultural property offenses. Blumberg stole nineteen tons of rare books and documents ... Blumberg often would engage library staff members in knowledgeable conversations. He would befriend them to lower their guard, and estimate their vulnerabilities. Other times he simply stole keys to areas that interested him by simply removing them from hooks or desks in unoccupied offices."

Stephen Blumberg and His Stolen Books,
Abbey Newsletter
(Stanford University), Volume 15, Number 7, November 1991
"An episode in the history of large-scale rare book thefts drew to a close July 31 with the sentencing of Stephen C. Blumberg to five years I I months in prison, with a $200,000 fine.' He had been tried six months earlier and found guilty on four counts of possessing and transporting stolen property-more than 20,000 rare books and 10,000 manuscripts from 140 or more universities in 45 states and Canada. (One report said they were taken from 327 libraries and museums.) Their value has been placed at about $20 million, making this the largest theft of rare books in the country ... His ambition, according to [former associate Kenny] Rhodes, was to become the greatest rare book thief of the century, even greater than the infamous David Shim, whose career was interrupted by arrest in 1980."

Lawyers for Jewish Defense League Leader Want FBI Files on Alleged Scheme to Extort Rap Stars,
TBO (Tampa Bay, FL), November 3, 2002
"In a bizarre twist to the case of a right-wing Jewish leader accused of trying to blow up Muslim-related sites, defense attorneys have requested records of an FBI probe into whether the suspect's group tried to shake down rap stars Tupac Shakur and Eazy-E. Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin is being held without bail along with group member Earl Krugel on charges of plotting to blow up a mosque and the office of an Arab American congressman. They have pleaded innocent. In papers filed this week in U.S. District Court, Rubin's lawyers asked a judge to order prosecutors to hand over records of the FBI probe, claiming it provides evidence of government bias against the league. An informant outlined the alleged extortion scheme during FBI interviews in 1996 about the murder of a figure in the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. The informant said the JDL planned to make death threats against Shakur and Eazy-E, then offer them protection for a fee, the Times said, citing documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act."

[Waksal is Jewish. Gagosian?]
Art Gallery Owner Accused of Tax Evasion,
Museum Security, March 20, 2003
"The federal government accused an art gallery owner and three other men of cheating the government out of $26.5 million by failing to pay sales taxes on a 1990 transaction. The civil lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, turned up the heat on the gallery owner, Lawrence Gagosian, who is already under government scrutiny for his dealings with ImClone Systems founder Sam Waksal. Waksal pleaded guilty this month to avoiding $1.2 million in sales taxes on art purchased from a New York gallery reportedly run by Gagosian. The new suit concerned a 1990 sale that allegedly produced a tax burden of more than $6 million — an amount they said has grown to more than $26.5 million with interest and penalties. Besides Gagosian, the suit named the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan and Jay I. Gordon, Peter M. Brant and Geoffrey J.W. Kent."

US accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques,
By Liam McDougall, Sunday Herald (UK), April 6, 2003
"Fears that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level meeting with the US administration. It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with US defence and state department officials prior to the start of military action to offer its assistance in preserving the country's invaluable archaeological collections. The group is known to consist of a number of influential dealers who favour a relaxation of Iraq's tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. Its treasurer, William Pearlstein, has described Iraq's laws as 'retentionist' and has said he would support a post-war government that would make it easier to have antiquities dispersed to the US. Before the Gulf war, a main strand of the ACCP's campaigning has been to persuade its government to revise the Cultural Property Implementation Act in order to minimise efforts by foreign nations to block the import into the US of objects, particularly antiques. News of the group's meeting with the government has alarmed scientists and archaeologists who fear the ACCP is working to a hidden agenda that will see the US authorities ease restrictions on the movement of Iraqi artefacts after a coalition victory in Iraq ... The ACCP has caused deep unease among archaeologists since its creation in 2001. Among its main members are collectors and lawyers with chequered histories in collecting valuable artefacts, including alleged exhibitions of Nazi loot. They denied accusations of attempting to change Iraq's treatment of archaeological objects. Instead, they said at the January meeting they offered 'post-war technical and financial assistance', and 'conservation support'."

How drug dealers use paintings to launder money,
The Art Newspaper, April 8, 2003
"A Connecticut art broker is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to involvement in a money-laundering scheme intended to exchange illegal drug proceeds for art. Two New York art dealers charged in the case have not been scheduled for trial. The federal indictment charges Shirley D. Sack, 74, and Arnold K. Katzen, 63, with conspiring and attempting to sell two paintings for $4.1 million in cash to an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer. According to the defendants, the paintings in question are Amedeo Modigliani’s 'Jeune femme aux yeux bleus' valued at around $2.5 million and a pastel by Edgar Degas, 'La Coiffure,' valued at around $1.6 million. These were seized by the US. 'Katzen and Sack indicated to the undercover agent that they could resell the paintings overseas as part of the money laundering scheme,' said the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Michael J. Sullivan. The undercover sting investigation, apparently prompted by an informant’s tip, was conducted by the US Customs Service and the FBI. The US alleged that the Connecticut art broker, Alan M. Stewart [also Jewish?], who pleaded guilty in December 2001, acted in the money-laundering transaction ... The indictment says that Ms Sack and Mr Katzen promoted themselves as fine art dealers who were 'capable of selling various works of art to be paid for in cash, as a way to launder money earned through illegal drug trafficking' ... According to the affidavit, Ms Sack, seeking a buyer for a $12 million painting supposedly by Raphael, St Benedict receiving Mauro and Placido, stated that she did not care 'if the money was drug money, Russian organised crime money or mafia money; she just needed a buyer,' and gave the name of Alan M. Stewart as her agent."

[Who dominates the international art market?]
The day of the jackals. Rod Liddle raises some disturbing questions about the looting of antiquities from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad,
The Spectator, April 19, 2003
"The various Iraqi museums have been looted countless times since the last Gulf war, and an estimated 4,000 objects have gone missing, presumably for good. Nobody, however, seems to have been very well prepared this time around. According to one of the museum's archaeologists, Raeed Abdul Reda, who greeted the world's media in tears, the robbers made off with some 80 per cent of the institution's most cherished possessions: jewellery and gold and 100,000-year-old stone tools and sculptures and carvings, ivory furniture, tilework, textiles and coins. Indeed, they stole the world's few remaining artefacts from the Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian cultures - those that had not already been liberated, during earlier and rather more paternalistic times, by the British Museum. These men knew where to look. They knew who had the key to the basement, where the good stuff was kept. So who were they? And where have they taken the stuff? And who would be prepared to pay the sort of astronomical sums demanded? Stealing a country's physical history, its archaeological remains, has become the world's third biggest organised racket, after drugs and guns. There are those who argue that it shouldn't need to be illegal at all. There are those who say, look, the free market should operate here. Why shouldn't a private collector be allowed to buy an antiquity and keep it in his bathroom, maybe next to the bidet, or as a tasteful holder for the Toilet Duck, if he wishes to do so, and if both he and the seller are happy with the price? You will not be surprised to hear that many of those who argue this way are American. You may not be surprised, either, that shortly before the invasion of Iraq, and with the spoils of war on their mind, some of these people formed themselves into a lobbying organisation called the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP). This group want a 'relaxation' of Iraq's tight restrictions on the ownership and export of antiquities. They object to what they call Iraq's 'retentionist' policy towards its archaeological treasures. (I love the pejorative use of the word 'retentionist' in this context; 'Goddam sand-niggers want to retain all their history!') The treasurer of the group, one William Pearlstein, has said that he would support a postwar government in Iraq that would make it easier to have things 'dispersed' to, er, for the sake of argument, the United States. And, on 24 January this year, the ACCP met with the US defense department to impress this point upon the politicians and the military. I tracked down one of the people who attended this meeting, and asked what the archaeologists had to say for themselves. 'Hang on,' said Maguire Gibson, from the Oriental Institute at Chicago University, interrupting my first question, 'there was only one archaeologist there - me. The rest were artefact collectors and lawyers, the people from the ACCP. I only went along to put my own point of view across, which was to plead for a minimising of the bombing of known archaeological sites. But I wouldn't have stood a chance of getting a meeting with the defense department without the ACCP. But I was there independently, OK?' Sure. So, who are they, then, the ACCP, and what do they want? 'These are very, very well-connected people. They are able to get a meeting with whoever they like, when they like. You know, I believe they met with the President last week. They are very affluent people, too. One of the leading lights is a former state department man, Arthur Houghton.' They sound terrific, I said. And Maguire replied, well, that's not all. 'You have to understand that some of the members of their organisation are among the biggest collectors and dealers of illegal artefacts in the world....' So, here's what seems to be the deal. A very short while ago an organisation was formed in the USA representing people who enjoy a lucrative or aesthetically rewarding trade in stolen historical artefacts, as well as artefacts traded legally and above board on the open market. The organisation was formed in some haste precisely because of the forthcoming war in Iraq. That's before we, over here in Britain, knew for sure that we were even going to war. And this organisation had the power to demand a meeting at defense department and even presidential level. How'd the meeting go, Maguire? 'Well,' said Maguire. 'It was very cordial. My job was to raise the consciousness of the military about being more careful, and I think it pretty much worked.' And what about ACCP? 'They were very straightforward. They didn't press the retentionism stuff. They kept saying that they just wanted to help.' It almost goes without saying, of course, that people like Maguire Gibson - in fact, anybody who works closely with a legit museum - is a little suspicious of the weight and motives of the ACCP."

US government implicated in planned theft of Iraqi artistic treasures,
by Ann Talbot, World Socialist Web Site, April 19, 2003
"As the full extent of the looting of Iraq’s National Museum in Baghdad emerges, it becomes clear that there was nothing accidental about it. Rather it was the result of a long planned project to plunder the artistic and historical treasures that are held in the museums of Iraq ... The role of the ACCP In the aftermath of these two devastating attacks on culture, attention has focused on the activities of the American Council for Cultural Policy. Even the British press that works under some of the toughest libel laws in the world has been willing to suggest that the ACCP may have influenced US government policy on Iraqi cultural artifacts. The ACCP was formed in 2001 by a group of wealthy art collectors to lobby against the Cultural Property Implementation Act, which attempts to regulate the art market and stop the flow of stolen goods into the US. It has defended New York art dealer Frederick Schultz [Jewish?] , who was convicted under the National Stolen Property Act, and opposes the use of the 1977 US v. McClain decision as a legal precedent in cases concerning the handling of stolen art objects ... The ACCP’s inaugural meeting took place at the Fifth Avenue apartment of Guido Goldman, a collector of Uzbek textiles. Among those present were Arthur Houghton, the former curator of the Getty Museum at Malibu in California, which is notorious for displaying works of suspicious provenance. Hawkins himself retired in 2000 as vice president of the trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, an institution that, according to its own former director, Thomas Hoving, holds many artifacts looted from Etruscan tombs. Before the war began, the ACCP met with Pentagon officials, declaring their great concern for Iraqi antiquities. What that concern means is evident from the remarks of William Pearlstein, the group’s treasurer, who also describes Iraqi laws on antiquities as 'retentionist'. The ACCP deny that they want Iraqi laws changed, but the looting of the museum and library will effectively circumvent that problem if US law on stolen art objects and archaeological material can be changed."

[About the author of the following article, from Jewish Los Angeles: "Hollywood comedian Larry Miller recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he visited children, victims of terror and healthcare professionals in Israel. Miller is an active participant in the Los Angeles Jewish Federation's Jews in Crisis Campaign that has raised over $18 million in support of victims of terror in Israel ... Miller, who appeared in such hit films as Pretty Woman, The Runaway Bride and The Nutty Professor, spoke about the creative process in film production, and his endeavors to mesh his writing with his support of the State of Israel."]
In Addition to Which, They'll Probably Need New Docents Another museum you can't see in just one day. Or maybe you can,
by Larry Miller, Weekly Standard, April 21, 2003
"I have a feeling I'm about to make a lot of people mad. I don't want to, you understand, but there's something I've had on my mind, and I think it'll make a bunch of folks angry. Maybe not so much angry, as horrified. Yeah, that's it, horrified and disbelieving. Aghast; agog. They'll gasp, stagger back, clutch their chests, and pinwheel their arms for balance, all the while looking around for someone to confirm their indignation. As I said, I'm not going for this reaction, but if that's the way it is, that's the way it is. So. Here we go. I don't give a rat's crack about what has or hasn't happened to some damn museum in Iraq. I'll pause here to allow readers to be held up and fanned by stouter relatives, and others to complete their swoons, back of the hand pressed to foreheads, muttering, 'My salts, my salts . . .' Everyone all right? Good. First of all, I don't know about you, but I didn't know the place had a museum."