- At first they cheered, smiled and offered hearty thumbs-ups
to the US soldiers who liberated them and promised to bring peace to their
land. But yesterday the fear was palpable on the streets of Baghdad, as
families cowered in their homes while lawless bands ran riot on the streets.
-
- There was a curious mix of disarray and sadness, rage
and self-hatred in the Iraqi capital. The looting continued until there
was virtually nothing left to take. Public buildings emptied of everything
of value, the looters turned on the homes of their neighbours.
-
- Although residents put up pockets of resistance, their
attempts were largely futile. In some areas families erected barricades
and took to arms to defend their homes, and their few possessions, from
the mob. Meanwhile, there were reports of the bodies of both looters and
those who had tried in vain to defend their homes lining the streets.
-
- Last night Patrick Nicholson, a member of the emergency
response team of the aid agency Cafod, voiced despair as he watched the
scenes unfold on television from his base in northern Kuwait. Nicholson,
who has been unable to operate in Iraq because the country is not safe
enough, said: "If you ranked the problems of Iraqis on a scale of
one to 10 the problem of lawlessness would be 12. Water would be seven
with food and medicine lower.
-
- "I thought by now I would be in Basra and now it's
not looking likely for the next few days, at least until next weekend.
There's no way you could guarantee your security. If you were trying to
shop in lorry loads or medical supplies there's no guarantee they would
not be looted at the point of an AK-47. The Iraqi army left large caches
of weapons when they left and these have landed in the hands of young men
who are using them to rob and loot. That's a very worrying development."
-
- Across the country, Coalition forces were yesterday urging
ordinary Iraqi police to come back to help deal with the crisis. British
and US troops were due to start joint patrols with civilian officers in
Baghdad and Basra today or tomorrow. After talks with American military
leaders, Iraqi police Colonel Mohammed Zaki said: "Anyone who carries
a weapon or fires a weapon, we will fire at."
-
- Yesterday American officials said the restoration of
law and order was a top priority. US troops and armoured vehicles blocked
access to the main palace grounds in Baghdad and there was a heavy military
presence guarding the Oil Ministry.
-
- The State Department said it was sending 26 police and
judicial officers to Iraq, the first component of a team that will eventually
number about 1,200. The officers will be part of a group led by Jay Garner,
the retired general chosen by the US administration to run the initial
Iraqi civil administration under American occupation.
-
- British troops in Basra have been credited with some
success in winning over local people, who have taken to throwing flowers
at the few Warrior armoured vehicles still patrolling the streets.
-
- However, while they may be winning over the hearts of
Iraqis, the humanitarian situation in the area remains grave. Save the
Children warned Basra had been hit by an outbreak of diarrhoea, prompting
fears that dysentery and dehydration-related deaths could follow.
-
- The charity said most areas were inaccessible to aid
organisations and there was evidence of a humanitarian crisis in Umm Qasr
in the south and Kirkuk in the north. "Food, water, medicines and
medical staff are all in short supply across the country," a spokeswoman
said.
-
- In Baghdad, the US authorities were discussing a night-time
curfew in the capital with Iraqis. However the hours had not been set amid
concern they would impinge upon morning prayers.
-
- The severe problems facing the Americans in Baghdad were
underlined when a fierce battle broke on the banks of the Tigris yesterday.
The war may be won but soldiers in the chaotic city are still having to
deal with attacks by paramilitaries loyal to Saddam. US troops said they
had killed up to 20 "enemy" after coming under heavy machine
gun fire in an exchange that lasted about 20 minutes. In another incident,
a US Marine was killed when a gunman dressed in civilian clothes opened
fire on troops guarding a hospital near the Palestine Hotel.
-
- American soldiers have been ordered not to confront armed
looters to prevent fighting breaking out with ordinary Iraqis. So when
American forces yesterday re-opened two major bridges over the Tigris yesterday
and crowds of looters surged across to unplundered territory, they could
do nothing to stop them.
-
- Elsewhere US troops could be seen waving looters through
checkpoints and watching as the buildings they were stationed outside were
pillaged. Yesterday the Red Cross said the problems caused by the widespread
disorder had to be addressed as a matter of urgency. It said damage to
hospitals and water stations had left the medical system in a state of
"virtual collapse".
-
- Antonella Notari, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said:
"There's a seriously alarming situation in Baghdad with chaos filling
the city and a lot of looting and armed groups. Vital services such as
hospitals are being ransacked. Some of the hospitals have just been completely
vandalised. Most of the staff are afraid to go to work. Patients are afraid
to go to hospitals. Those who are there are trying to leave or are recovered
by their families."
-
- Across the city anger at the lawlessness sweeping the
capital was being directed at the American troops. Abbas Reta, 51, an engineer
and father of five, said: "The Americans have disappointed us all.
This country will never be operational for at least a year or two. I've
seen nothing new since Saddam's fall. All that we have seen is looting.
The Americans are responsible. One round from their guns and all the looting
would have stopped."
-
- The people of Baghdad's Karadeh neighbourhood grabbed
Kalashnikov rifles, set up roadblocks and checked passing cars for stolen
goods. When they found it, they confiscated the loot and beat the culprits.
-
- Jabryah Aziz, 41, said: "Tell the Americans to stop
the killing and the looting. We can't live like this much longer, with
Muslims looting other Muslims. I need to feel safe so I can go and collect
my food ration."
-
- Safa Hussein Qasim, 44, a jeweller, said: "This
is the promise of the United States to Iraq? This is democracy in Baghdad?"
-
- Armed looters were not the only dangers facing innocent
Iraqis. Unexploded cluster bombs were scattered throughout at least one
part of the capital. In Dura, a middle class suburb in south-eastern Baghdad,
three people were killed and at least one injured while trying to pick
up the bombs.
-
- In northern Iraq, US troops moved into Iraq's third city
of Mosul yesterday to find it rife with gunfire and reports of ethnic fighting
between Arabs and Kurds.
-
- Three Kurdish peshmerga guerrillas and one journalist
were said to have died.
-
- Foreign journalists who left the city reported fierce
fighting between Arabs and Kurds in Mosul. In Britain, Armed Forces Minister
Adam Ingram yesterday accused the BBC of exaggerating the problem of disorder
in Iraq after a Radio 4 report, which said that people in Baghdad were
living in "more fear than they have ever known before".
-
- But Mahmood al-Sabbagh, an Iraqi exile who lives in Glasgow,
said he feared the situation was even worse than the BBC report suggested.
-
- "There have been ridiculous incidents which make
me ashamed to belong to the same group of people if these people call themselves
Iraqis," he said.
-
- "They removed people from their beds in hospitals
and stolen insulators and other machines. They ransacked universities.
They are systematically destroying everything and when they are done they
are setting buildings on fire. It's a nightmare. People are facing bigger
dangers than they were in the war.
-
- http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=431152003
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Brasscheck ken@brasscheck.com 4-13-3
-
- Monkey see, monkey do.
-
- George Bush and Rummy have succeeded in bringing their
version of American values to Iraq.
-
- US-inspired Iraqi thugs are stealing everything that's
not nailed down, often at gunpoint. The looting has extended well beyond
government buildings and well armed hoodlums are now raiding the homes
of their neighbors.
-
- "In some areas families erected barricades and took
to arms to defend their homes, and their few possessions, from the mob.
Meanwhile, there were reports of the bodies of both looters and those who
had tried in vain to defend their homes lining the streets."
-
- One person on the scene ranks the problem of lawlessness
as a "12" on a scale of 1 to 10. In contrast, he rates severe
food, water, and medical shortages rate at a 7 and lower - for now.
-
- Relief groups are unable to move supplies to where they're
needed as they, correctly, assume that without armed military escorts,
they will be robbed, and perhaps much worse, at gunpoint. The US military
can't help because they're still trying to 'root out' the old regime -
and protect their own hides.
-
- For some reason, US troops in their search for Saddam
and WMD were very lax about securing Iraqi military supplies. AK-47s are
now a de rigeur accessory for thousands of Iraqi thugs who are using them
to rob and terrorize their unarmed neighbors.
-
- Lawlessness leading to extreme shortages of basic necessities,
leading to more lawless desperation - and on and on. The only way to stop
it will be extreme repressive measures including 'shoot on sight' curfews,
mass incarceration, endless house-to-house searches, no pretence of civil
liberties.
-
- Let 1,000 Belfast's bloom.
-
- Nice work, you ^&%^ing morons.
-
- Don't bother impeaching Bush, just try him, Rummy, Cheney,
and Rice for treason. They've gotten us involved in a financial, political,
diplomatic and military disaster that will make their 9-11 escapade look
like a softball game in the park. I note that Britain is already sending
it troops home. They know where this is leading and they only promised
to help light the fire, not put it out...
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