Yesterday the priest at the church that I attend asked me to share a little bit about what I want to talk about as a guest speaker in a coming month. We have guest speakers on the 5th Sundays of each month. So I shared a little bit about my lecture on "Art, Creativity and the Power of the Imagination" that I give to schools and then shared how I am trying to get to Uganda with a team of artists and about this strange meeting with Iraqi arts directors back in 2007 and how I might be able to help facilitate in some way the hunt for some of the Iraqi art treasure that was looted when the U.S. was occupying Iraq. Afterwards a lady asked me if I had heard about the book "Thieves of Baghdad" and she proceeded to tell me a little of what the book is about. My head was swimming then and even more this morning. I found the book on Amazon and ordered a copy of it and the audio CD since i spend more time in the car than time able to read. What I found very interesting and am now even more focused on this "mission" is why is this all happening in 2014. Why so many years after I was asked if I might be able to find a publisher who could publish a book featuring photos that a professor has of their museum treasure that had disappeared did i come back in touch with someone that published the book monument men? Why is this book "Thieves of Baghdad" now a best seller the same time that I finally might be able to help them regain their culture? Didn't this marine find all the art? Did he miss something? Does God want this unknown, nonwealthy, artist to help find a missing treasure with the help of this Marine/Author and the Director of Monument Men Foundation? Questions that lead me to say HMMMM.
A few minutes ago my neighbor came over and asked me more about what this campaign to be the 1st U.S. Arts Ambassador was all about. I didn't get into it all I just got into the Iraq story because interestingly enough, he was in Iraq when I met these three people from Iraq and he was aware of my desire to possibly do something over there because I asked him about the logistics of getting supplies through the U.S. military in the green zone to my contact at the Arts Center. As i was telling him about what was happening we had a good chuckle because I was wearing the really nice overcoat he gave me back then that was too big for him. Anyway, he told me about how he was approached by an U.S. soldier who tried selling him a painting of a man pushing a shopping cart while a stormy sky was above him and the man had no flesh only the clothes of the man. Like he had lost everything. Maybe his flesh disappeared during the rapture or he was a ghost eternally stuck in reality pushing a cart trying to find things that don't exist. I am going to paint my version of this painting next. My friend and neighbor said that a lot of american's bought art treasures that might have been looted.
A few minutes ago my neighbor came over and asked me more about what this campaign to be the 1st U.S. Arts Ambassador was all about. I didn't get into it all I just got into the Iraq story because interestingly enough, he was in Iraq when I met these three people from Iraq and he was aware of my desire to possibly do something over there because I asked him about the logistics of getting supplies through the U.S. military in the green zone to my contact at the Arts Center. As i was telling him about what was happening we had a good chuckle because I was wearing the really nice overcoat he gave me back then that was too big for him. Anyway, he told me about how he was approached by an U.S. soldier who tried selling him a painting of a man pushing a shopping cart while a stormy sky was above him and the man had no flesh only the clothes of the man. Like he had lost everything. Maybe his flesh disappeared during the rapture or he was a ghost eternally stuck in reality pushing a cart trying to find things that don't exist. I am going to paint my version of this painting next. My friend and neighbor said that a lot of american's bought art treasures that might have been looted.
  | He's a spit-and-polish Marine, a competitive boxer, a classics scholar, and an assistant DA in Manhattan. New York tabloids call him "pit bull" for his relentless prosecution of high-profile defendants like Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and the "baby-faced butchers" of Central Park. When Baghdad fell, Colonel Matthew Bogdanos was in southern Iraq, tracking down terrorist networks through their financing and weapons smuggling--until he heard about the looting of the museum. Immediately setting out across the desert with an elite group chosen from his multiagency task force, he risked his career and his life in pursuit of Iraq's most priceless treasures. Thieves of Baghdad takes you from his family's flight to safety at Ground Zero on 9/11, to his mission to hunt down al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, and into the war-torn streets of Baghdad on the trail of antiquities. Colorful characters and double-dealing are the norm as Bogdanos tries to sort out what really happened during the chaos of war. We see his team going on raids and negotiating recoveries, blowing open safes and mingling in the marketplaces, and tracking down leads from Zurich and Amman to Lyons, London, and New York. In an investigation that led to the recovery of more than 5,000 priceless objects, complex threads intertwine, and the suspense mounts as the team works to locate the most sensational treasure of all, the treasure of Nimrud, a collection of gold jewelry and precious stones often called "Iraq's Crown Jewels." A mixture of police procedural, treasure hunt, wartime thriller, and cold-eyed assessment of the connection between the antiquities trade and weapons smuggling, Thieves of Baghdad exposes sordid truths about the international art and antiquities market. It also explores the soul of a man who is equal parts hardened Marine, dedicated father, and passionate scholar. Most of all, it demonstrates that, in a culture as old as that of the Middle East, nothing is ever quite what it seems. |
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