The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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>As an Iraqi, I was disgusted by the scenes >of looting of public buildings, hospitals and museums in >broad daylight.These looters, locally called"Ali Babas", >are a disgrace to the Iraqi society, who disown them and >will indict them as common criminals. In the meantime, >they should be deterred by all means possible, including >shooting that looter pack. I think we are all disgusted by the looting -- including the looting of the entire country by the invaders. There has been entirely too much shooting already, however, and any more should be avoided if at all possible - i.e., only in legitimate self-defense. That raises the question as to whether any Iraqi shooting any occupier might not be self-defense, but I don't want to deal with that right now. The question at hand, regarding looting of the sites, can be approached by considering the general state of security, which is intimately bound with Iraqi independence. As long as the US/UK is controllling Iraq, security must be flawed just by the fact that it is being imposed from the outside, from parties whose interests are not those of the Iraqi people. Those who have said it will take up to 2 years to hold elections because the Iraqis must first be taught about what democracy is are obviously incompetent to make decisions about Iraq. These are same people who failed at securing the museum and library, various other public buildings, but have shown excellence only in their ability to shoot or otherwise kill or destroy people and physical resources. That slaughter itself did much to motivate some people to loot -- to get what they can for their survival. The occupiers could post guards to discourage looters at these sights, which would likely help some, but the only true solution is to put the Iraqis back in charge of their country (which should be feasible within threee months -- it might have been done already if the invaders were serious in their claims about liberation), and then the Iraqis themselves can dissuade, arrest, indict, or otherwise deal with looters in legal and moral ways, and with legitimate authority -- not with the lynch-mob "justice" meted out by war criminals. It would be better for UN forces to guard the sites temporarily -- nothing the US/UK does in Iraq can be really legitimate any more than any action of a burglar who has broken into a house can be legitimate, aside from getting out and paying reparations. ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk