No sooner has the hoopla died down about how coalition troops allegedly failed to do enough to protect Iraqi treasures at the Iraqi National Museum than a new approach is being advanced. The idea would be to allow the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to take over as protector of the most important repositories of Mesopotamian art in the world.

The thing to keep in mind here is that Unesco’s track record is truly abysmal. Exhibit A is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The site is where tradition places Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, Jesus’ preaching, and Mohammed’s ascent into heaven, and where archeological evidence locates both Jewish Temples. It has been systematically looted and destroyed by Arab authorities. Unesco, which has been charged with protecting it, has hardly uttered a word.

The Islamic waqf, or religious trust, has been destroying vestiges of a Jewish presence on the Mount for years. It has engaged in an extensive and unsupervised renovation of the Mount, building a new mosque under its southeast corner, and slashing new exits through the Temple Mount’s walls. The Waqf has blocked any archeological supervision of the work. Unesco turned a blind eye.

Jerusalem is not the only debacle. A year and a half before the Taliban fell at Afghanistan, there was a plan to provide sanctuary in Switzerland for the contents of the National Museum in jeopardy at Kabul. The antiquities were actually packed up and ready to go when Unesco balked at providing the transportation it had been asked to provide. The agency said it would not support taking cultural patrimony material out of the country of origin. As a result, the treasures stayed in the museum and, predictably, the Taliban ripped open the crates and smashed every piece. Lost forever.

The Bamiyan Buddhas story may be better known. Dating back to the 6th Century, the Buddhas were considered one of the wonders of the world. The Taliban announced their intention to destroy them. Unesco sat on its hands and could hardly have been surprised when the Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban just as the Taliban had threatened.

What is clear is that Unesco is an unfit custodian. It is out of step with everything for which museums and global education are supposed to stand. Museums are meant to pave the way for better global understanding: they provide windows into cultures we’ve never seen. Unesco’s retention ist position is antithetical to such an aim. Who could support any policy that maintains national culture should only be seen and appreciated in the country of its origin?

Unesco has no more business in Iraq than any other tentacle of the United Nations. Its abandonment of its responsibilities in other countries reminds of how the General Assembly and the Security Council abandoned the idea of freedom when it was in the balance in Iraq.