Texan helps document modern art looted from Iraq

Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, Nada Shabout returned to the country where she grew up. As an art history professor, one of the first stops she wanted to make was the modern art museum.

However, she soon found that seeing the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art would be impossible.

It had been burned and looted and, just months after the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion, the area was still blocked off and dangerous.

As she traveled around Baghdad and spoke to art experts, she realized that thousands of works had been looted from the museum, possibly gone forever. She learned from gallery owners and artists how pieces once displayed in the museum were …