Military, media accused of looting
Paintings, firearms, found in luggage
Curt Anderson
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 24, 2003
canada.com
WASHINGTON -- Several members of the media and a U.S. serviceman have been caught attempting to ship Iraqi paintings, weapons and other war souvenirs to the U.S., authorities here said yesterday.
At least 15 paintings, gold-plated firearms, ornamental knives, bonds and other items have been seized at airports in Washington, Boston and London in the past week, according to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. Items seized in the military case were flown to Fort Stewart, Georgia.
"These seizures should serve as a warning to anyone who would take advantage of the transition currently under way in the newly liberated Iraq," Commissioner Robert Bonner said.
Benjamin James Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Fox News Channel, is the only person charged or identified by the government. A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, charges Mr. Johnson tried to bring 12 paintings into the U.S. last Thursday. They were contained in a large cardboard box that was examined by Customs agents at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.
An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says Mr. Johnson, who accompanied U.S. troops in Baghdad, gathered up the paintings at a palace that belonged to Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's sons. The paintings depict Mr. Saddam and Uday.
An examination of Mr. Johnson's luggage also turned up 40 Iraqi monetary bonds and a visitor's badge from the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Mr. Johnson, 27, has not been arrested, but is to appear before a federal magistrate next Tuesday.
Mr. Johnson initially told customs officials he was given the paintings by Iraqi citizens, then said he had planned to keep them "for decoration" and to provide one to his employer. It is U.S. policy that all such items belong to the Iraqi people.
Mr. Johnson worked for six years as a satellite truck engineer for Fox, which fired him after learning he had acknowledged taking the paintings, a network statement said.
Museums, businesses, government offices and homes were looted after the fall of Mr. Saddam's regime. Among the items stolen were artworks and other antiquities, some thousands of years old, from Iraq's vast collections of items from Assyrian, Mesopotamian, Sumerian and other cultures.
Customs bureau officials said an unidentified U.S. serviceman attempted to ship a rifle, a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle -- all gold-plated -- taken from an Iraqi government facility to a military base in the U.S. The items were seized last Friday at London's Heathrow Airport. |
