Sunday, January 30, 2011

Egyptian Museum Looted - How Much Damage, Really???

We don't know, and Zahi Hawass won't tell us any time soon.  I have read reports of "heads torn off mummies."  Holy Goddess!  I just do not understand how come the museum was not immediately shut down and protected by massive police and military presence when the protests first began, over a week ago? And why the most obvious targets of treasure hunters (Tut's gold, for instance) were not immediately smuggled out of the the museum and locked away in deep vaults somewhere.

I have a great deal of respect for the Egyptian people and their ancient heritage - They are very different from the Arabs who today rule in much of the Middle East - but all it takes is a few foreign instigators to urge on some young hot-heads to loot and set fire to things and, suddenly, things get out of hand.  We've already seen that happening in Cairo. 

Now, tonight on the NBC news broadcast was a report of wholesale looting of treasures from King Tut's exhibit - and much more damage to the museum and looting of its exhibits than has been reported in print that I saw!  It makes me sick to my stomach.  Oh my Goddess, please make it not be true.

Already the average Egyptian, more than half of whom depend upon tourism to make their livings, must be feeling the pinch of thousands of tourists trying to flee home and the disruption of tours. What will happen to the Egyptian people during the next few years when tourists refuse to visit Egypt - already thousands of tourists are trying to flee the country, and I hope they all make it home safely.  If I were in their shoes, I'd be trying to run away too, as fast as I could! 

I don't know what's going to happen in Egypt. I just want the violence and deaths to end - and the thiefs who are looting the ancient heritage of all the Egyptian people to be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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