On Friday, April 11, 2003, at 09:02 PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
What is up with looting hospitals? I can see grabbing the fun meds, but the rest of it? Who do they think they're screwing with this? Looting govt offices is just payback, like bombing an IRS office.
Looting merchants is just lowlife theivery, like Los Angeles, unless the merchants were state-licensed or pro-state, in which case payback may also be involved. (E.g., Bombing Fox News vs. Starbucks or Walmart)
(There was also a racial motivation in LA, as some smaller merchants were Korean and the rioters were Negroes, and the riots themselves were racially instigated. I haven't heard of similar Sunni/Shiite differences motivating Iraqi rioters; I don't know if they can tell each other apart by sight, or by language.)
At least the Marines actually have ammo in their weapons. The LA Nat'l Guardsmen didn't.
Whoever you are in reality, your naivete is breathtaking. Why are they looting? To get free stuff. (More intelligent teams were apparently moved in once the looting started. I just got a communication that professional thieves from Cairo and Damascus were quick to realize the opportunities of plundering the national museums and private homes. The silver Harp of Ur alone is worth $4 million.) This looting and collapse is a consequence of the sacking of Baghdad. Perhaps it's part of the plan. Burn off several million useless eaters and maybe there's a chance for a more compliant U.S. client state. As Anne Coulter and her fellow republidykes have suggested, invade their country, take their oil, give their children blue eyes, convert them all to Christianity, and kill those who don't convert. --Tim May