tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3425507272157287074.post3631702091116488086..comments2024-03-09T14:18:50.979+01:00Comments on ARCAblog: The Sliding Scale of Looting: Some DefinitionsEdgar Tijhuishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06122194472344222217noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3425507272157287074.post-43134396887812097182012-02-10T10:17:24.608+01:002012-02-10T10:17:24.608+01:00Great article meg. A sub component to your Modern...Great article meg. A sub component to your Modern Looting category has some historical looting overtones and is what has occurred in Iraq as the result of this conflict. Collecting war souvenirs is a practice as old as combat itself. Roman armor, Spartan shields and other spoils of war from conflicts past have been collected and displayed as war booty or trophies from time eternal. And while the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War prohibits looting of civilian property and requires that anything identified as such be moved to the custody of the Custodian of Enemy Property, enforcing that rule and determining what constitutes property (a Tabasco bottle of Iraqi sand, a Bulgarian-made rifle taken off an enemy or a third dynasty tablet looted from Umma) depends in fact upon the methodology of enforcement. While there are strict rules written regarding how these items are to be handled until they are return to their owner, enforcement at the field soldier level is often self regulated and doesn't always happen. The result is artifacts are taken from their contexts and the relics from modern-day battles have and will continue to find their way, undocumented, into quarterdecks and living rooms. Even when they are discovered, the objects have often passed through so many hands, it is difficult to identify where they originate from or where the chain of looting, organized, casual or desperate, began.lalbertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15558439785323763238noreply@blogger.com