This Week >> 3/06/2008
Indiana Jones, the real one? True-blue Crime Scene Investigator? A Renaissance Man? This week's guest on Let's Travel!, Col. Matthew Bogdanos, is all these things. Col. Bogdanos led the international investigation into the looting of the Baghdad Museum. He'll talk about the black market in stolen antiquities, where the money ends up and what it buys. Learn why The Boston Globe calls his book, "Thieves of Baghdad: A story with all the makings of a Hollywood action flick", and why Publishers Weekly says Bogdanos is a remarkable blend of warrior, academic and communicator, and he cuts through politics and hyperbole to tell an engrossing story abundant with history, colored by stories of brave Iraqis and Americans, and shaded with hope for the future.
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Guests
United States Marine Corps
Matthew Bogdanos is an Assistant District Attorney, author, and a colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. He graduated cum laude, receiving a Phi Beta Kappa award, with honors in Classics, from Bucknell University in 1980. He also holds a Recognition of Achievement in International Law from the Parker School of International Law in 1982, a law degree and a master's degree in Classics from Columbia University in 1984, and a master's degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in 2004.
During his first tour in Iraq in 2003, and acting on his own initiative as deputy director of the Joint Interagency Coordination Group, he led the investigation into the April 2003 looting of the National Museum of Iraq. As of early 2007, almost 6,000 stolen antiquities had been recovered in eight countries. Exposing the link between the trafficking in stolen antiquities and terrorist financing, he has delivered speeches in more than 125 cities in a dozen countries throughout the world in venues ranging from universities and museums to law-enforcement agencies, Interpol, and members of both houses of the British Parliament. He urges a more active role for international organizations, private foundations, governments, and the art community in combating what he calls the global criminal enterprise that is pillaging the world's cultural heritage.
Upon his return from Iraq, he was assigned to the National Defense University to assist in developing the U.S. government's first executive-branch-wide, operational-level interagency training program. Released back into the Marine Reserves in October 2005, he returned to the District Attorney's Office, was promoted to Senior Investigative Counsel, and continues the hunt for stolen antiquities.
To view a paper written by Matthew on this subject, click here
The National Museum of Iraq
Originally known as the Baghdad Archaeological Museum, The National Museum of Iraq contains priceless relics from Mesopotamian civilization. The Museum was established by the British traveller and author, Gertrude Bell, and opened shortly before her death in 1926. Looted in 2003, The Museum has recovered many of their artworks; the recovery is still ongoing.
Photographs
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