To the editor:

With scenes of cheering Iraqis greeting U.S. troops in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the blame-America-first crowd has been forced to criticize other aspects of the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

John Hoopes’ April 16 letter blames the United States for not protecting the Iraq National Museum and other museums from looters.

Of all the dire predictions issued by those in the anti-war movement, I can’t seem to find any that predicted the looting. Indeed, Gen. Vincent Brooks stated that the United States did not anticipate the looting of Iraq’s treasures by Iraqis.

It is clear none of Iraq’s museums were U.S. military targets and that great efforts were made to avoid damage to those museums. However, Hoopes and others who say we also had an obligation to guard the museums are actually saying Americans should have shown more concern for Iraq’s culture than the Iraqis themselves.

Of course, the media in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and elsewhere are also blaming the United States for the looting of Iraq’s museums. These same media just a few weeks ago were urging Arabs to go to Iraq to protect the corrupt and brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. It is sad that no such appeals were made to Arabs to protect Iraq’s treasures.

Kevin Groenhagen,

Lawrence