Did Saddam ever visit the Iraq Museum?
Only once, before he was president. He never came after that. That says to me he was not really interested in history and archaeology.
Did the Saddam regime interfere with your work?
We felt we had a good measure of independence as a scientific institution. There was never any interference when I was excavating or writing reports. But my contacts with foreigners were closely monitored. The one time it really hurt was when they formed a special team in 2003, before the invasion, to store safely the museum artifacts. I knew everything in the museum and had worked to store everything before the Gulf War in 1991. I think they were afraid, since I knew foreigners and was a Christian, that I would reveal the secret place where the material was stored. That really hurt.
How did you react after the museum had been looted?
I was angry. I knew it could have been prevented; I knew American forces were beside the museum and didn’t do anything. It was a very, very big mistake that could have been prevented. Like most Iraqis, I thought the arrival of the Americans was very welcome, but when you work as an archaeologist for 30 years, love the field, and know each piece, and then you see all the destruction and looting—this was very hard. I can’t support people who did not protect the museum. And I can’t blame the soldiers—they didn’t have orders.
What is the impact on Iraq as scientists and professionals like you leave?
I have seen hundreds like me leave. A good number, if they could not travel abroad, work in the north, in Kurdistan. But the result is a complete drain of good minds from Iraq. In 2003, there were big hopes people would come back and work.
How did the new Iraqi government handle antiquities?
In 2004, I was made director of museums, and from the start they started sending people loyal to al-Sadr’s party to monitor and control everything in our institution. They interfered in every single thing and changed things without our knowledge. They encouraged the staff of the department to go directly to the ministry, rather than through us. They removed people not connected to the party and put people in who were not qualified. It is worse than under Saddam.
How is the new minister, who was appointed in 2006?
He’s a dentist, and his wife—who is a member of the Parliament—is a relative of al-Sadr. I knew he knew nothing about antiquities, so I went to see him and explain how we work. After about 10 or 15 minutes, I realized there was a complete wall between him and me. He seemed to be listening but not following. I felt helpless. Afterward, he continued the same policy as his predecessor. He appointed one person without experience in manuscripts to be in charge of manuscripts. And the director of manuscripts was moved to the excavation department. It would be amazing if he even knew where Babylon was—it’s not his field. I was by then chairman of the board, and I had the authority of a deputy minister. But I was given no authority over personnel or budget.
At the end, I found myself coming to work, sitting there, and doing nothing. The last straw was when I was told by the minister’s adviser that I should look after myself. He said the al-Sadr party had given an order that since I was Christian, I should not be allowed to keep my job, that it was very important a Shiite Muslim have the position. I was shocked. I understood that if I stayed, they would fire me, or it would lead to problems or even assassination. That happens. A month or so later—the 30th of July—I applied for retirement. And the minister approved it immediately. Normally, a minister would call to find out the reason a senior official resigned, so it was clear he was waiting for me to quit. A week or so later we left Baghdad.
