US NOT TO BLAME FOR LOOTING, SAYS RUMSFELD

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday rejected charges that the US military was to blame for the looting by Iraqis of important art and artifacts from the antiquities museum in Baghdad, Reuters reports. Antiquities experts, dismayed that US officials failed to heed their warnings to protect the museum during the war, said on Monday they were concerned that the looted items might never be recovered.