- Action News Uncovers Art Heist
IRAQ - Rumsfeld says criticism over Iraq museum looting a "bum rap" Action News Uncovers Art Heist
Edited by Dave Pieklik
Investigators with the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department are looking for an art thief who stole a valuable painting from the Onondaga County Public Library. The $45,000 painting disappeared recently from the library. Members of the sheriff department's Felony Crimes Unit spent Friday looking at what art work should be at the library after the painting was confirmed missing. Early Friday, Sheriffs detectives travelled to Skaneateles to pick up a painting, evidence in the apparent art scam. The painting, of the ship "The Ben Porter," was painted by Skaneateles artist John Dodgson Barrow. It's supposed to be at the Onondaga County Public Library. But Action News caught up with it at a art gallery in Skaneateles, whose owner bought it for a bargain. The painting was purchased for $200 last weekend at an estate sale. "She thought she had the deal of the century and she thought it was too good to be true, so she did a little more research," says gallery owner Erin Sammut. The painting went to antiques expert Tim Conroy, who valued it at $45,000 and suggested it go to art conservators to confirm the signature. They knew the painting and had the documentation that said it should have never been at an estate sale. "It was owned by the Onondaga County Public Library. We immediately recognized the painting," says John Sutton, of the West Lake Conservators. Friday morning, Conroy turned the painting over to the Sheriff's Department, where it's now evidence in a growing investigation. At the same time, deputies were at the main library. Another of the 30 or so Barrow paintings the library is supposed to have is on display there. Administrators would not comment, obviously upset over the theft. "She left the telephone to go look for the painting, and came back to the telephone and said there's an empty nail in the wall where this painting hung," Conroy says. The case remains open, and while no arrests have been made, investigators say the case goes well beyond the recovered painting.
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IRAQ
Rumsfeld says criticism over Iraq museum looting a "bum rap"
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said criticism of US commanders for not stopping the looting of Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities was a "bum rap" and noted that most artifacts had been removed for safekeeping before the war.
"I would go so far to say it would have been a bum rap even if the items had been looted," Rumsfeld said with Army General Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in Iraq, at his side.
The loss of irreplaceable antiquities would have been a "terrible thing," Rumsfeld said. But commanders had to balance that against the overriding objective of prevailing in combat against Iraqi forces with the least possible loss of life of civilians and their own troops, he said.
US officials said Wednesday that more than 40,000 items missing from the museum, including documents and artifacts, have been recovered.
"I was told personally by someone who went to the museum three weeks before that the door was closed and that there were very few items that were visible through the window," Rumsfeld said. "And that it was fairly clear those things had been put away for safekeeping."
US commanders have been widely faulted for failing to protect the museum and other government buildings from looters when their forces went into Baghdad.
Franks declined to comment on the criticism.
But Lieutenant General William Wallace, who commanded the battle for Baghdad, told reporters Wednesday his forces' first responsibility was to defeat the Iraqi forces in the city.
"I don't think it was so much an issue of the number of troops as the fact that we were still fighting our ass off as we went into Baghdad," he said.