The 2006 World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites was launched on June 21, 2005 by WMF President Bonnie Burnham. It marked the first time that an entire country was placed on the Watch List. Iraq, long considered as the "cradle of human civilization" and within whose borders lie an estimated 10,000 archaeological sites, has been left vulnerable to widespread looting, vandalism, and other acts of violence in the wake of the 2003 military invasion.