By bne Gulf bureau Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities has received thousands of returned archaeological pieces following a push by the central government in Baghdad to retrieve stolen assets in the past year. The sudden urge to claw back lost assets follows years of struggles after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime following the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003. More than 15,000 objects were stolen from the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. The Museum raid event was one of the most significant thefts of cultural artefacts of the past century. Many of these items hav…