People look at ancient Assyrian human-headed winged bull statues at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad December 31, 2013. Baghdad is set to fully reopen its treasured National Museum, home to priceless artefacts plundered in the unchecked chaos following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Picture taken December 31, 2013. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A decade on from the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and whipped up a tsunami of theft in Baghdad, Iraq's National Museum is preparing to display its treasures of Mesopotamian culture - even if thousands are missing.
The looting of the museum under the eyes of U.S. troops has sometimes been compared to the Mongol sack of the Grand Library of Baghdad in 1258. Then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shrugged it off with the comment "stuff happens".
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