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The looting of Iraq's national museum in 2003 traumatised the nation.

Priceless artifacts being broken and thrown on its floor reflected the chaos and anarchy that gripped the country after Saddam Hussein was removed from power.

More than 15,000 artifacts and works from its collections have been stolen since then. Experts believe many were smuggled out of the country and sold abroad.

Critics accuse the US army of gross negligence because its troops did nothing to stop the pillage, a reputation made worse when a US tank blasted a hole in the wall of the museum.

For six years, Iraqi archeologists have worked to recover around half of the stolen items and use them to refurbish the museum.

With the museum now open for visitors, many say it was done in haste for political purposes to boost prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's image and demonstrate to the public that life is returning to normal in Iraq.

Whose responsibility is it to ensure the safe return of Iraq's stolen treasures? Are the artifacts currently on display safe or was the museum opened too hastily?

Our guests this week are Donny George, visiting professor of archeology at Stony Brook University and former director general of Iraq's Museum of Antiquity and Zainab Al Bahrani, professor of history and archeology at Columbia University.

This episode of Inside Iraq aired from Friday, March 13, 2009.