Looting

I'm listening to the radio and it sounds like the Iraqis are really trashing the place. If the UK and US are going to foot the bill for the rebuild I think they better get their a** in gear and stop it coz it must be in the billions already.

[Edited on 10-4-2003 by Lexus Panther]

I've really been surprised there hasn't been more outcry at this... We saved the Iraqis from Saddam, but now we have to save them from themselves...

They need to get a handle on the looting now... Items in the government buildings belong to the Iraqi people, not select looters. Likewise, there is no justification for the looting of stores and homes either.

Unfortunately, it may just be that the coalition doesn't want to do anything to hamper their open-armed welcome...but we need to make sure those open arms aren't holding looted tvs...

This needs to be nipped in the bud, and quick. While the Arab world is surprised at the US's receptions, they're quick to criticize the allowing of looting...but rightfully so.

Sometimes I think they deserve to have a field day and go for it, the money Saddam has blown on his exuberance was theirs anyway and if it's been blown on stuff they they can't use it's as well burned. F**k him and all he stands for.

After decades under a murderous dictator, they can make it through a week of looting until everything is secure and policing can be established. But that's just my opinion.

I don't know,its a sticky subject.One one hand I agree with Gazrok,as I have never been a supporter of looting.
But in this case it may just need to run its course.They have been held down for 30 years.And if coalition troops try to hard to stop them,well that might not go over to well.

I think that the reasons for this looting are obvious to everyone. This looting will happen and will continue to happen until someone can put in place a stable and rational government to control the people. The people as a nation and as a whole, understand the fact that the idea of US Military Personnel policing the Iraqi people would be 'suicidial'. Not to mention the mere presence of US Troops has caused 'civilian' attacks against American Troops to come in the form of suicide bombings already. So just think about US intervention in the looting scenes. That wouldn't work. People in Iraq will do what they want from now on.

That is the way it has always been. Bathism under Saddam changed that. Now the tables have turned back into the people's hands, but Saddam's looming shadow is still lurking over them. The people of Iraq are trying to show their fearless leader who's boss. Our intervention would only impede that process, You See?

Not to mention, like I say all the time, Afghanistan is what Iraq will be like in a matter of months. Only if our Militaries stay, will there be hope. If we let the Iraqi people do this on their own, than we will just end up watching them argue and fued until they all just start fighting. That is what they have done for generations and generations, they are too clanish. The clansmen will try to kill each other off and effectively paralyze the Iraqi people. Just like they did in Afghanistan and still do to this day. Once again, the whole freedom drive is a scam and a joke. We all know that no form of democracy can exist in today's version of Islam. They must ignore their Religious Belief System Wars and find peace in Allah. They only find hate in themselves when they look down on others and spite them. They would fly free if they just let go. Then they will find God. Then they will find freedom.

The coalition troops won't stop the looting for a couple of days.
The Iraqi people are letting off steam. Looting is one of the only ways that they can do this. How else are they going to get the anger of living under a despot for 30 years out of their system?
Far better that they loot and burn rather than turn that rage on coalition troops. It makes more sense to let them vent their anger and then when they've calmed down, move in and start policing the remains.

As for the cost? The rebuilding contracts are worth a fortune to the US. The Iraqis will be paying for that rebuilding with oil. Every window they smash is another dollar on the US economy.

They are also looting shops...

Think about it, you're an Iraqi shop owner... First, you have to replace your windows, blown out by coalition bombs... Ok, small price to pay for the removal of a dictator... Then, you get looted by your own neighbors! Ok, now you're just ticked.... We don't want them ticked. It needs to be stopped. We've come too far to screw up now....

Shop keepers aren't likely people to later turn into terrorists. Looters are.
Which one are you likely to defend? Sure the shopkeeper loses a window. And he gets mad. But he's not the guy the coalition will worry about.
The people who are doing the looting are basically the mob. It's from their ranks that most of the fanatics come from. It's safer to let them get on with it for now rather than use authority immediately and end up with them turning anti-US.

The looters are only looting stuff from Saddam and some tried to get into the German embassy.

It's not social degredation over there.

I love the shots of ecstatic looters thrilled with their haul of old car tyres. And there was a report on the radio yesterday of someone pushing a grand piano along a road. So where's the footage of that, eh? Bloody nowhere, that's where. It's not good enough. What's the point of having dozens of global 24 hour news channels if none of them manage to get shots of someone pushing a grand piano in the street? This has ruined the war for me, it really has.

LOL. You ain't been watching enough TV.
The grand piano was rolling downhill towards Tikrit. Saddam was at the keys playing "Chopsticks".

That's the thing. All the banks are being robbed. Saddam's people probably took most of the countries reserves before they fled, and now the rest is being stolen. There economy is going to be a very hard thing to restart if this continues in every town and city.

looting has always been my favorite pasttime!! j.k....

sorry i am not ignorant, i just dont know about government and politics too much. can someone tell me how the US is responsible for paying for the mess/looting? man thats messed up....

The initial outlay will be payed by the UK and US taxpayers. The governments won't see that money back for 10 years or so until the country is stable enough to encourage investors and provide a business platform for the oil industry. Billions the UK can't afford.
They've just put 1p on a pint of beer, I live in a fascist dictatorship.

"can someone tell me how the US is responsible for paying for the mess/looting? man thats messed up...."

See Japan after we dropped the bomb. For every dollar of damage by the war (including the looting fallout), we'll spend two dollars rebuilding it better than before (out of a sense of global responsibility, and winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people)...thus, in essence, the looting is costing us money, as we'll be the ones to reimburse shopkeepers, etc. for their losses, due to out actions.

I suspect not. I don't think the US are working hard at opening up UN bank accounts of Iraqi money for nothing. The US are liable to pay for the reconstruction of the country, because they're the ones that just bombed the infrastructure, but I suspect the Iraqi people will end up paying for it indirectly...

i.e. "all of the Iraqi oil is going to be used for the good of the Iraqi people" translates to "we're not paying to clean up this bloody mess".

still paying for a lot of this....and the point was, looting will end up raising that cost...