Posted on 08/25/2006 12:03:52 PM PDT by Marius3188
AMARAH, Iraq -- Looters ravaged a former British base Friday, a day after the camp was turned over to Iraqi troops, taking everything from doors and window frames to corrugated roofing and metal pipes, authorities said.
About 1,200 British troops had been stationed at Camp Abu Naji in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and the base had come under almost daily attack. The troops pulled out Thursday to redeploy along the border with Iran to crack down on weapons smuggling.
Shortly after the troops pulled out, Iraqi police managed to disperse looters by firing warning shots into the air, said Dhaffar Jabbar, spokesman for the Maysan provincial governor's office. But the looters returned Friday.
"The British forces left Abu Naji and the locals started looting everything," 1st Lt. Rifaat Taha Yaseen of the Iraqi army's 10th Division told AP Television News. "They took everything from the buildings."
Men, some with their faces covered, ripped corrugated metal from roofs, carried off metal pipes and backed trucks into building entrances to load them with wooden planks.
Several Iraqi soldiers, apparently unarmed, did not seem to make any effort to stop the looting.
"There are only few soldiers at Abu Naji camp. Some of the residents were carrying weapons so they (the soldiers) did not want bloodshed and with such a big number, they cannot stop them," Jabbar said.
Lt. Tahseen Abid Ali said the Iraqi army had taken up positions in a corner of the camp, but was unable to stop the looting.
Another officer, 1st Lt. Ammar Karim Ahmed, said the army had seen "hundreds (of looters) coming toward the camp."
"First of all, we tried to stop them, but we saw some them were armed and our forces did not have enough people to stop them," he said.
When asked by a reporter why he was taking material from the base, one man, who refused to give his name, said: "This is war loot and we are allowed to take it."
On Thursday, Iraqi authorities had complained that the British withdrawal had caught them by surprise.
"British forces evacuated the military headquarters without coordination with the Iraqi forces," Jabbar said.
The British military rejected the assertion.
"The handover of the Camp Abu Naji was coordinated with the Amarah authorities 24 hours in advance," said spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge.
"It was understood that the governor was likely to use the camp as a police training camp," he said in an e-mail Thursday, adding that Iraqi forces had secured the base after the British soldiers left.
Burbridge said Thursday that British authorities could not comment on early reports of looting "because by that stage the camp was the property of the Maysan authorities and Iraqi Forces were in attendance."
You can't make a silk purse out of sows' ears. Barbarians are barbarians no matter how many times they can vote.
Specifically Clark Air Base. The Air Force left the hospital fully equipped. It was stripped down to the concrete in 24 hours.
Yeah, the picture of flushing 100 BILLION dollars down the drain...
These people are really ready for "freedom and democracy".
The problem with Bush is that he was never in any of these places!
Its not like the getto down the street!
All your base belongs to us!
The Big Red One left Germany a couple months ago.
>>>We're still in Germany after all.
Looting is not common in any US city.
Only the ones with LARGE populations of a certain pampered, welfare dependent minority.
consider the source. I wouldn't be surprised if the was completely made up by the AP.
Who would expect anything less than this behavoir. Not everyone is suitable to be part of a democracy....
"The problem with Bush is that he was never in any of these places!"
What is this supposed to mean?
This happens everywhere the West builds a base and leaves.
I happened to be at Dong Tam, former home of the 9th Inf Division (US) the day it was turned over to the ARVN.
All day ARVN trucks pulled in and EVERYTHING, plumbing, wire, fixtures, window frames, everything flew out the windows, onto the trucks and out the front gate.
Iraq is looking more like Nam every day.
the only thing Iraq and Vietnam have in common are the treasonsous RATS and MSM.
"Iraqis loot base after British leave"
This is but one example of a truism that those in power should have known: NATION BUILDING IN TURD WORLD NATIONS CANNOT SUCCEED!!!!
Iraqis have liberals too? Sounds just like the lame justifcations OUR liberals provide.
"All your base belongs to us!"
LMAO!!! Perfect!
Agreed. The Middle East is pathologically criminal to its core. This is why dictatorships are virtually necessary there, because common law and order and decency mean almost nothing there.
Every US, British and Iraqi base should have signs all over the place that say "Looters will be executed on the spot." THAT is a language they will understand.
As my sainted grandmother used to say about one ner-do-well family in our town, "Oh the Joneses - they've always been like that!" American trash or Arab trash, the principle is the same.
Hope they bugged the base parts so we can listen in on some good stuff.
The british have a history of this stupidity in the region, the Taggert Forts come to mind
Do you even know what a Taggert Fort is, and why my comment was pertinent? Or are you just another historically illiterate US basher? If you are English, I can understand, they stopped teaching you your own history decades ago.
_________________________________________________________
You spelt Taggart wrong. When was the last time you were in an English school? How do you know they stopped teaching English history decades ago or did you just make that up? I'm not English so I wouldn't know. As for bashing the US if you want to start slingling mud at Britain expect to get dirty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.