JumpStart International

The Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad is surrounded by a number of gardens. Additionally, the Museum has several internal courtyards, some of them clogged with sandbags and/or debris from the looting at the Museum in April.

Today JumpStart began work on clearing the grounds and employing some gardeners to plant grass and mow the lawns surrounding the Museum, some of which are overgrown, presenting a possible security problem. This is a relatively small project, it will employ perhaps ten workers for a week or ten days or so and require the use of a small amount of heavy equipment, such as a grader for the landscaping and a forklift for moving destroyed materials. This work is done upon special request by Mario Osio, Ambassador to the National Museum from Italy, and the Ministry of Culture.

Piles of dirt and rubble will be removed with dump trucks. These sandbags were probably originally used in the foxholes that were dug into the ground in the land surrounding the museum during the war. Inner and outer courtyards will be planted with a few hundred plants. A large strip of dirt perhaps 100 meters long that runs the entire length of the museum will be graded and seeded with grass. Some concrete edging blocks will be put in to separate walkways from grass areas.

"These sandbags were probably originally used in the foxholes that were dug into the ground in the land surrounding the museum during the war."

 A large strip of dirt, perhaps 100 meters long that runs the entire length of the museum, will be graded and seeded with grass. Some concrete blocks will be put in to separate walkways from grass areas.