The Iraqi antiquities are going to be in good hands -- really

So, like all right-thinking people, I bit my nails for months over the incredible treasures in the Iraqi museum in Baghdad. (A series of particularly moving posts and attached discussions took place on Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog [nielsenhaydent] that Neil Gaiman [officialgaiman] linked to.) We all moaned about how Rumsfeld couldn't be arsed to have enough troops to keep the museum safe (and each other and everyone else safe, for that matter).

Alas, what's done is done in that regard. I was, however, lucky enough to hear Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, the man in charge of picking up the pieces, speak at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts, and he's good people. I fangirl him along with my professor, who pimped the speech heavily in class.

( Cut for massive length as I set the stage and then reconstruct the speech from my notes. )

The Iraqi antiquities are going to be in good hands -- really

So, like all right-thinking people, I bit my nails for months over the incredible treasures in the Iraqi museum in Baghdad. (A series of particularly moving posts and attached discussions took place on Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog [nielsenhaydent] that Neil Gaiman [officialgaiman] linked to.) We all moaned about how Rumsfeld couldn't be arsed to have enough troops to keep the museum safe (and each other and everyone else safe, for that matter).

Alas, what's done is done in that regard. I was, however, lucky enough to hear Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, the man in charge of picking up the pieces, speak at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts, and he's good people. I fangirl him along with my professor, who pimped the speech heavily in class.

( Cut for massive length as I set the stage and then reconstruct the speech from my notes. )