Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Iraqi Jewish archive controversy escalates

IRAQ is taking some action in order to get the Iraqi Jewish archive back from the United States: Iraq cuts US archaeology cooperation over archives (AFP).

This article is much better researched than some of the other recent ones covering the controversy and I don't see any errors in it. The article reports that the US position is that the archive is being held temporarily in the US for it to be conserved and digitized, which was what I understood. I have commented on the situation here (with many background links going back to 2003). All I will add is that cutting off cooperation with the United States on these matters is likely to do Iraq's archaeology more harm than good. I hope they reconsider and find another way forward.