IRAQ ANTIQUITIES ARTICLES:

"Iraqis say US ignored pleas to halt museum looting" (ReutersAlert)

(This is the first account I've seen of the looting of the Baghdad museum which takes testimony from the commanding officer in charge of securing the area. Despite the article's title, it sounds to me as though it will be pretty hard to maintain negligence.)

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schwartz, commander of the tank battalion which fought Iraqi forces around the museum as Saddam Hussein's rule crumbled, said the U.S. military was "absolutely not" to blame for the thefts from the world-renowned museum.

[...]

The "Battle of the Museum" began on April 7 when U.S. forces took control of an intersection less than 500 metres (yards) away. They met fierce resistance and three days of fighting with Fedayeen militia and Special Republican Guard followed.

By the time it was over, looters operating right under the nose of U.S. forces had emptied the museum of priceless antiquities documenting the development of mankind in ancient Mesopotamia, one of the world's earliest civilisations.

[...]

"I was responsible for securing this site," Schwartz said outside the museum on Thursday. "But you can't just charge into a city straight to the museum, you have to secure the zone first, and we were taking some pretty heavy casualties."

Schwartz said he was aware the museum was a protected site and had orders to "identify it and ensure its integrity".

[Dr Donny] George [director-general of the Iraqi Department of Antiquities] said one of his staff had run to a U.S. tank to tell them about the looting, only to be told: "It is not our responsibility".

Schwartz recalled a similar incident but said the man had been suspected of belonging to the Fedayeen.

Schwartz said his men from the 3rd Infantry Division around the museum came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. He said one U.S. soldier was killed and 35 wounded.

"There were 30 to 50 Fedayeen defending the compound. Once it was defended, it lost its protected status," he said.

In other words, the U.S. troops were under fire and facing "fierce resistence"- in which many were wounded and one died, and in the fog of combat they could not even be sure who were allies and who were enemies. If this account turns out to be accurate, I see no way they could be blamed for making the museum a low priority.

Another article:

"Iraq and Ruin" (Christian Science Monitor)

UPDATE (17 June): The URL for the first article has gone dead, so I have replaced it with the Google cache link.