Theft and destruction of Iraqi artifacts

I did not know that there was so much looting going on these days. I also didn't realize the amount of precious artifacts in Iraq. To be honest, when I think of Iraq, I don't actually think of it as being the cradle of civilization, I think of it more as an arid warzone. I would love to see all the artifacts that have been discovered throughout history, but I'm sure that's close to impossible to track everything down.
It's easy to sit here and say, I don't think it's right and I don't like the fact that so much history is lost, but that's the way the world has always been. Even in ancient Egyptian times, there was looting. I would love to be able to put a stop on it, but that's like telling everyone in the world, “hey, stop stealin stuff man!” . That's just not going to happen.
The destruction would be easy to stop if I were in control of the war, but once again, that's just the way of the world. There will always be war and there will always be theft. I would really like it if every country in the world to just avoid destroying eachothers history, but that's another impossible venture. It just can't happen.
Something we can do as americans over in Iraq is to set up some sort of historical protection fund for the Iraqi people. That's maybe not so difficult to do. Then again, everything is easier said than done.