1900 Security Police for Iraq's Archaeological Sites

Iraq announces a 1900-man security component to protect archaeological site and monuments. That's a big step forward from 106, but nowhere near the 5,000 that were supposed to be in place six months ago according to the 2008 plan to create this security force. As I have written about in Rape of Mesopotamia and on this blog, the 2008 plan itself was overdue about five years, a delay caused by the failure of the US to take responsibility for securing sites during its official occupation or to assist the Iraqis in standing up their own security force after the end of the official occupation. Let us hope that the Iraqis continue to build up this force to the levels needed to make Iraq once again one of the safest places for unexcavated antiquities in the Middle East.