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| Iraq |
| Baghdad curfew as chaos widens |
| 2003-04-11 |
| Edited for length BAGHDAD, April 11 â Trying to prevent looting and new suicide bombings, U.S. troops on Friday began enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the parts of Baghdad that they control. Looters have hit hospitals, colleges, libraries, homes and even robbed reporters. The murders of two Shiite clerics by a mob laid bare deep divides, while the deaths of two children at a checkpoint in Nasiriyah reflected the tension throughout Iraq. THE U.S. MILITARY has said it would not become a police force, but it has taken on some of those duties. Describing it as an âawkwardâ period in Baghdad, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon that a dawn-to-dusk curfew had begun in U.S.-controlled areas of the city. Military sources told NBC News that 75 percent of the city was under U.S. control. The curfew was instituted after President Bush vowed that âcoalition forces will help maintain law and order so that Iraqis can live in security.â NBCâs Chip Reid, reporting from Baghdad, said troops had been authorized to intervene when they see large-scale looting. Lt. Col. Michael Belcher, a battalion commander, said his priorities were first to protect key structures, such as the power system, and second to safeguard humanitarian sites like hospitals and aid distribution centers. Commercial buildings are last, he said. The curfew should also ease concerns of suicide bombings. International aid officials criticized U.S. and British troops for failing to rein in looting mobs, saying they were obliged as an occupying force under international law to prevent chaos. âThe coalition forces seem to be completely unable to restrain looters or impose any sort of control on the mobs that now govern the streets,â said Veronique Taveau, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. âThis inaction by the occupying powers is in violation of the Geneva Conventions.â In Baghdad, a U.S. Army brigade commander told reporters that troops were in âtransition to stabilization operations.â âWe have a lot of civil affairs guys in the town working with hospitals and trying to get water and power back on,â added Col. David Perkins. |
| Posted by:Tadderly |
| #4 Q: Why were certain, but not all, hospitals looted? A: Because ordinary Iraqis didn't have access to them. For them, they were symbols of the regime as well because only certain people, those with money, had access... |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-04-12 03:20:30 |
| #3 let em loot . 30 years of that pri*** in charge is enough . they need a good ole bit of hands on capitalism to get the ball rolling !! . As for the hospitals being looted . i bet my bottom dollar/pound that most supplies had been shipped out by the regime to some ironic place like Basra b4 the war commenced only to be destroyed by the feyadeen --eer- stupid b4 the cowardly muppets left the city |
| Posted by: Biggus 2003-04-11 16:52:27 |
| #2 We didn't expect things to crumble so fast. It'll take a while to get the MP's in there. Give it time. And the looting seems (for the most part) admirably selective. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-04-11 16:09:04 |
| #1 âThe coalition forces seem to be completely unable to restrain looters or impose any sort of control on the mobs that now govern the streets,â said Veronique Taveau, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. âThis inaction by the occupying powers is in violation of the Geneva Conventions.â Ah-h-h-h, Shaddup! |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-11 16:01:59 |