news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2948021.stm
The library, in central Baghdad, housed several rare volumes, including entire royal court records and files from the period when Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire. It is unclear who started the fires - though widespread looting has taken place in the Iraqi capital, with the city's museum also ransacked and many rare artefacts damaged, destroyed or stolen. The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has pledged to recover and repair the antiquities looted from the city museum, amid criticism from heritage bodies that the damage should have been prevented. Patrols begin A Western journalist - Robert Fisk of the Independent - reporting from the site of the library told the BBC that the whole building had been gutted, with handwritten documents from as far back as the 16th century - when Iraq was part of the Ottoman Empire - strewn on the ground. A nearby Islamic library has also gone in up in flames, he said, destroying valuable literature including one of the oldest surviving copies of the Koran. US-Iraqi joint patrols have now begun around the city in a bid to curb the violence. It's too late, it's no use, it's no use Donny George Archaeologist, Iraqi state board of antiquities Several Shia religious leaders have appealed to the local population to return looted items, and say that some items had been returned and stashed in mosques for safekeeping. Mr Powell called the ravaged Baghdad museum "one of the great museums in the world" and said the US would take a leading role in restoring it. Leading experts on Iraqi heritage will gather for an emergency meeting on Thursday to count the cost of the looting of the country's cultural sites. The US would "recover that which has been taken and also participate in restoring that which has been broken", he said. Depiction of war on stone buildings in southern Iraq Iraq: The "cradle of civilisation" But the loss and destruction already suffered has been described as "a disaster" by Unesco. The national museum was home to artefacts that dated back 10,000 years, from one of the world's earliest civilisations. The development of writing, abstract counting, the wheel and agriculture were all charted in its exhibitions. The collections from the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian periods were particularly prized. After the 1991 Gulf War, 4,000 pieces disappeared when regional museums were looted. If marines had started before, none of this would have happened. Go 58 News, analysis and background KEY STORIES 59 Falluja general 'not in charge' 60 US hostage in Iraq gains freedom 61 Doubt cast on Iraq torture photos 62 Bush warns of new challenges 63 Arab media fury at abuse photos ANALYSIS 64 US Army soldier clears rolls of razor wire from the main entrance to Falluja 65 Forward or back?
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