Iraqis loot base after British leave

[madokie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060825/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_base_looted

AMARAH, Iraq - Looters ravaged a former British base Friday, a day after the camp was turned over to Iraqi troops, taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes, authorities said.

About 1,200 British troops had been stationed at Camp Abu Naji in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and the base had come under almost daily attack. The troops pulled out Thursday to redeploy along the border with Iran to crack down on weapons smuggling.

Shortly after the troops pulled out, Iraqi police managed to disperse looters by firing warning shots into the air, said Dhaffar Jabbar, spokesman for the Maysan provincial governor's office. But the looters returned Friday.

"The British forces left Abu Naji and the locals started looting everything," 1st Lt. Rifaat Taha Yaseen of the Iraqi army's 10th Division told AP Television News. "They took everything from the buildings."

[Dhalgren]

1. I don't blame them. I would have looted the place, too...

[madokie]

3. me too I'm not sure I would have waited until they left

when I think about what is happening to these poor people I just want to kick someones ass. Not a one of them have done a thing to me.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Imagine the green zone.

The party on our departure will be of historic proportions.

[madokie]

5. I wold like to be a witness to that,

It would mean I lived through the bush war.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. I hadn't thought about that, but you're probably right

The sad thing is that people are going to get hurt in the process.

The first thing that came to my mind was the looting after the Mobuto's fall in The Congo. Mobuto, of course, was a Cold War relic; he was a dictator compliant to the West who made sure the Congolese people didn't gyrate to another Lumumba.

No doubt the our corporate-owned MSM is simply reporting looting and not asking any questions of the looters. If they did, the looters might have a voice to tell the American people that the post-Saddam occupation is just more tyranny, not a liberation.

[Nimrod2005]

4. Freedom on the march!!! Free people are just that, free, to do whatever

per Rummy in 2003.....

[TomInTib]

7. The last sentence is worthy of Lewis Carroll

'Burbridge said Thursday that British authorities could not comment on early reports of looting "because by that stage the camp was the property of the Maysan authorities and Iraqi Forces were in attendance."'

[Dhalgren]

9. I love the Brits - even officially they are so fucking dry...

[notadmblnd]

8. sounds more like dismantleing and recycling to me

I'm quite sure that the Iraqi people are in desperate need of re-building material. I have a feeling it will be put to good use.

[TahitiNut]

10. Imagine. An occupation military force with hugely better living conditions

... than the surrounding population. I remember Viet Nam. I remember how FUCKING CLUELESS we were about living on military bases in the midst of a population who viewed our living conditions as luxurious. Only the cultural 'face' of these people precluded the kind of palpable resentment even a brain-dead American could see. As we rushed by in our huge gas-guzzling trucks and looked down on people on bicycles and mopeds, I could only wonder at the huge disparity in wealth. What must it be like to be a civilian in a nation where the military forces, particularly FOREIGNERS, enjoyed living conditions only available to the upper class? I can't escape thinking that this visible disparity receives far too little consideration. (Victor Charlie, on the other hand, had the living conditions of the surrounding population - a bit like a Peace Corps worker. Think about it.)

[RethugAssKicker]

11. Absolutely disgusting... isn't it..

But the general American public will never even hear of anything such as this.

What less think about it!

[madokie]

13. the public's ability to not look at that is one of the reasons

that war is allowed

[TahitiNut]

14. "Hidden in plain sight."

It doesn't take much for an intelligent person to have a "D'oh!" moment. One can merely point to the huge disparity between portrayals the differing of relative socioeconomic status of military in a military dictatorship and a free democracy.

Take a look at Mexico for something close to home. The military in Mexico have a very "middle class" existence in a country with almost no middle class. Let's compare that to the U.S. where the military, at least the lower enlisted ranks, are on the thin edge of poverty. When, however, we look at the generals and flag officers, a different picture comes through. Once upon a time in America (that'd make a good movie title) they were merely a part of the middle class. If they were wealthy, it was because they came from wealthy families or parlayed their talents in other economic activities. Not any longer. Our Generals and Admirals are now firmly ensconced among the wealthier people in this country. Think about Chile under the Pinochet regime. Think about Cuba under the second Batista regime. Look at Colombia. Even Venezuela.

When we look overseas and see our military surrounded by the citizens of the country in which they're stationed, we can see the huge political impact of a foreign military that's a colonial occupation. Global corporatism has always been synonymous with colonialism - and the military has always been the "company security" force.

[RethugAssKicker]

12. Americans first thougth... Well they're almost black...

so naturally they loot !

I guarantee that is the initial thought by the majority of Americans