(2003-04-11) Baghdad Looting

There's looting in Baghdad at the "end" of the War On Iraq. Donald Rumsfeld said stupidly Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things," he told reporters. I don't think there is anyone in those pictures or any human being who does not prefer to be free and recognise that you have passed through a transition period like this and accept it as part of the price of getting from a repressed regime to freedom. The BBC's DavidWillis says a small minority of the population is carrying out the looting and most residents are hunkered down behind locked doors in fear. However, he says that the spirit pervading the streets is a sense that "the Iraqi regime had stolen from the people for years and now they are taking it back". Sounds like that Restoration process is starting off smoothly.

Apr12 followup : Some Iraqis, however, question the allocation of U.S. forces around the capital. They note a whole company of Marines, along with at least a half-dozen amphibious assault vehicles, has been assigned to guard the Oil Ministry, while many other ministries - including trade, information, planning, health and education - remain unprotected.