It has been a few days, but nothing has changed.

Looters and arsonists ransacked and gutted Iraq’s National Library, leaving a smoldering shell Tuesday of precious books turned to ash and a nation’s intellectual legacy gone up in smoke.

They also looted and burned Iraq’s principal Islamic library nearby, home to priceless old Qurans; last week, thieves swept through the National Museum and stole or smashed treasures that chronicled this region’s role as the “cradle of civilization.”

US response?

“I don’t think anyone anticipated that the riches of Iraq would be looted by the people of Iraq,” U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at a U.S. Central Command briefing in Qatar.

Well, no one except the UN, aid workers, Iraqis, pundits, and even US officials…