looters rule baghdad
Posted: 4/11/2003, 4:26 pm
http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2324&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258
Looters rule Baghdad
Frenzied looters swept across large parts of Baghdad on Thursday, a day after US-led troops stormed the city centre.
Armed gangs roamed city streets and targeted offices and homes, stripping them off whatever they could lay their hands upon—from bottles of whisky to furniture and electrical fittings.
Iraqi looters give a thumbs-up sign to US Marines in Baghdad
Besides swooping down on the sprawling residences of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, they also targeted offices and hospitals. Even ordinary Iraqi homes were not altogether spared.
Among the houses pillaged during the utterly lawless day was that of Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday.
Eye-witnesses recalled seeing looters carting off bottles of whisky and wine from Uday’s house on the banks of the Tigris while other gangs stripped his favorite yatch moored in a private marina.
The looters are said to have walked away with even the white Arabian horses that Uday kept in his stable. They destroyed what they couldn’t carry, breaking golden taps and the heavy chandeliers.
The villa of Tareq Aziz, the deputy prime minister of Saddam Hussein, was also targeted during the day. Looters swarmed all over the place and plundered the tastefully decorated house of all its belonging. The looters primarily came from the Saddam City area, home to about two million impoverished Shi’ite Muslims.
The houses of Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid—dubbed Chemical Ali by the Western media—and Izzat Inbrahim, a close aide of the Iraqi president, were also ransacked.
Even Baghdad’s already stretched hospitals fell prey to the looters.
International aid workers testified that they had stormed into the city’s Al Kindi hospital and taken away everything from beds to electrical fittings and surgical equipment. Several other smaller hospitals in the city have also been pillaged.
“Its terrible. Small hospitals have closed their doors fearing further mob attacks while the big hospitals are inaccessible,” lamented Noda Doumani of the International Red Cross.
“The picture is a very dark one. There is absolutely no security on the street,” asserted Veronique Taveau, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI).
In looting whatever they could set their eyes on, the looters didn’t spared even the compounds of international aid agencies, stoking fears that humanitarian aid could be seriously jeopardized as a result.
“The coalition forces seem to be completely unable to restrain looters or impose any sort of control on the mobs that now govern the streets. This inaction by the occupying powers is in violation of the Geneva Convention,” Taveau said.
Among the compounds looted were also that of the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), from where the unruly mob took away chairs, telephones and computers.
“The widespread looting and chaos spread to UNICEF’s office and essentially everything was taken away,” said Wivina Belmonte, spokeswoman for the UNICEF.
Other international agencies also expressed deep dismay over the continued lawlessness and looting.
“It is absolutely vital that the occupying powers rein in the lawlessness and provide a secure environment,” said Peter Kessler, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR).
“It is absolutely reprehensible that guards cannot be put outside UN agencies so that their assets can be controlled,” Kessler added in anguish. --- Al Jazeera with agency inputs
Looters rule Baghdad
Frenzied looters swept across large parts of Baghdad on Thursday, a day after US-led troops stormed the city centre.
Armed gangs roamed city streets and targeted offices and homes, stripping them off whatever they could lay their hands upon—from bottles of whisky to furniture and electrical fittings.
Iraqi looters give a thumbs-up sign to US Marines in Baghdad
Besides swooping down on the sprawling residences of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, they also targeted offices and hospitals. Even ordinary Iraqi homes were not altogether spared.
Among the houses pillaged during the utterly lawless day was that of Saddam Hussein’s son, Uday.
Eye-witnesses recalled seeing looters carting off bottles of whisky and wine from Uday’s house on the banks of the Tigris while other gangs stripped his favorite yatch moored in a private marina.
The looters are said to have walked away with even the white Arabian horses that Uday kept in his stable. They destroyed what they couldn’t carry, breaking golden taps and the heavy chandeliers.
The villa of Tareq Aziz, the deputy prime minister of Saddam Hussein, was also targeted during the day. Looters swarmed all over the place and plundered the tastefully decorated house of all its belonging. The looters primarily came from the Saddam City area, home to about two million impoverished Shi’ite Muslims.
The houses of Saddam Hussein’s cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid—dubbed Chemical Ali by the Western media—and Izzat Inbrahim, a close aide of the Iraqi president, were also ransacked.
Even Baghdad’s already stretched hospitals fell prey to the looters.
International aid workers testified that they had stormed into the city’s Al Kindi hospital and taken away everything from beds to electrical fittings and surgical equipment. Several other smaller hospitals in the city have also been pillaged.
“Its terrible. Small hospitals have closed their doors fearing further mob attacks while the big hospitals are inaccessible,” lamented Noda Doumani of the International Red Cross.
“The picture is a very dark one. There is absolutely no security on the street,” asserted Veronique Taveau, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI).
In looting whatever they could set their eyes on, the looters didn’t spared even the compounds of international aid agencies, stoking fears that humanitarian aid could be seriously jeopardized as a result.
“The coalition forces seem to be completely unable to restrain looters or impose any sort of control on the mobs that now govern the streets. This inaction by the occupying powers is in violation of the Geneva Convention,” Taveau said.
Among the compounds looted were also that of the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), from where the unruly mob took away chairs, telephones and computers.
“The widespread looting and chaos spread to UNICEF’s office and essentially everything was taken away,” said Wivina Belmonte, spokeswoman for the UNICEF.
Other international agencies also expressed deep dismay over the continued lawlessness and looting.
“It is absolutely vital that the occupying powers rein in the lawlessness and provide a secure environment,” said Peter Kessler, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR).
“It is absolutely reprehensible that guards cannot be put outside UN agencies so that their assets can be controlled,” Kessler added in anguish. --- Al Jazeera with agency inputs
...i'd get my ass kicked by the cops, and for trasspassing they wold kick me out of school. the mass student body needs to charge, so that no one can be kicked out or be found out. cause then that's selective law enforcement. and besides, those goal posts are heavy as hell. 
