I watched CNN latenight Sunday night, and the whole group were mostly Brits. Anyway they showed all these anti-American protests going on in the capital, and they weren't exactly small. I think one big mistake that was made was the order in which we secured buildings. For instance, the Oil ministry was seized early by the U.S. forces and is protected from all looting. Hospitals, universities, libraries, museums etc. were not seized or protected in any form from looting. As result hospitals don't have supplies, civilians are dying, having operations performed without anesthetic, etc. The forces are now starting to move toward curtailing the looting. But if you are concerned about the Iraqi people, their well-being, and not with oil, securing the oil ministry, and not the hospitals was a big mistake. Hopefully we can make amends pronto. It's my prediction that the longer we are there, the larger those 'Yanky go home!' protests will get.
Yeah, it's a shame that something couldn't be done about the hospitals. The Museum getting ransacked was also a shame. So much history, artifacts dating back to the beginning of civilization if I'm not mistaken, all gone. Nothing can be done about it now, maybe some people will come to their senses and return the artifacts.
This is further evidence that our ground forces weren't sufficient enough. The hospitals and museums should have been major priorities.
The worst aspect of this is that many of them weren't just stolen, they were broken, destroyed, defaced, etc. There's no getting those back. As if the human tragedy wasn't enough, we now have this.
Apparently the museum was closed for many years to the public. saddam treated it as his personal museum. Maybe that had some bearing on the situation.
Kind of nice that they can protest without fear of getting their throats slit, isn't it? Things will calm down, order will return and clear thinking people will be thankful for the over throw of Saddam. Other people, of course, will use this as an opportunity to become powerfull and if bashing the U.S. helps them they will do it. Others will try to get power working with the U.S. As long as a democratic government is in place and that country doesn't try to screw with the world I'm not really sure that I care what the people think of the U.S.
What I think is unbelievable is that out of all federal buildings,it was the OIL ministery that was secured first! I have to say that I really wish I could believe US isn't going there just for the resources(oil),but the head commandment is making it so easy to critisize them... Most Shop-keepers have asked help from the marines to protect them from the looting and they get no response. No wounder u get so many anti-Us signs:they think u were the origine of the chaos in the country and they feal ur not helping them get the peace back. ALA
Well, whether you like it or not, the oil IS the most important part of the country because that is what is going to get Iraq back to being the jewel of the middle east, not the museum (although it is horrible all that stuff was looted). I did however read and article saying that most of the Super valuable stuff was already locked in vaults down underneath the museum to protect from bombing, so most of the super priceless stuff will be saved, and the U.S. has pledged to try to find the artifacts and return them. I'm sure they will actually get a big chunk back from the black market...just not the artifacts that normal Iraqis feel look good in their living room. They will get a lot of it back when it is attempted to be sold.
Re: the museum being "looted by mobs of civilians" Maybe, maybe no, says Kanan Makiya: I spoke by sat-phone with friends in Baghdad. According to them, the breakdown of authority familiar to the world is getting better. Citizens groups are forming to keep order in the streets, and meeting little preliminary resistance. People want to be safe, and now that the ministries have been ransacked, it appears the worst of the looting has passed. In Basra, too, I understand these same groups are forming. One friend told me that the looting of the National Museum--something that cut deeply into me--was the work of newly deposed Baathist officials, who had been selling off our patrimony as they saw their days were numbered. As the regime fell, these (ex-)Baathists went back for one last swindle, and took with them treasures that dated back 9,000 years, to the Sumerians and the Babylonians. http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=iraq&s=diary041403
Many of the people who were protesting weren't former members of Saddam's cabinet, but angry ordinary civilians who were watching civilians hurt by the U.S. suffering in an underequipped hospital because it was being looted while the U.S. didn't stop that, but did make sure that the oil ministry wasn't looted. That's a problem that shouldn't be repeated. You may not care what the rest of the world thinks of the U.S. but all those that have died from terrorist attacks and may die in the future probably won't be happy that at least those people didn't like the U.S. I'm happy Saddam is gone, and I think that most people there have an opportunity for improvements in liberty, justice, and all that. But if a country(U.S.) invades, kills and wounds many civilians(although not intentionally in most cases), and doesn't protect the hospitals that serve those people but does protect the oil ministry that doesn't address their immediate needs then something was done wrong, and it should be noted. I'm not mad that the oil ministry was protected, I think it would be great to protect that and the hospitals, and museums. But if only one could be protected, the oil ministry shouldn't come first on the list of priorities.
They secured the oil ministry because Saddam's administration threatened to destroy Iraq's oil infrastructure. The coalition wants to keep the country's oil infrustructure intact, because it is the basis for Iraq's econcomy, and will allow them to help pay for their own recovery. The oil ministry was an obvious strategic target for the dying regime, so US forces moved to protect it. Yes, to an extent, they coalition forces messed up by not anticipating and preparing for the widespread looting. However, it wouldn't be possible to field an army big enough to protect every building in a city that size -- bigger than the greater Houston population -- which can at the same time fight and contain pockets of the remaining Iraqi army. At the same time, the forces were under a mandate to try not to anger the general population, which could easily turn against them. They had no choice but to hope that the citizens would maintain some order until a new government could be installed. Unfortunately, the population had other ideas. They protected what infrastructure they could -- key being their economy (the oil fields and other facilities) ports, and airports. Given time, these can be used to replace everything else.
Yes, we prefer to kill at long range, the longer the better. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/16/1050172608832.html
