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http://www.truthout.org/ US Troops Encouraged Ransacking > > By Ole Rothenborg > Dagens Nyheter > > Thursday 11 April 2003 > > This is a translation of an article from April 11 from Dagens Nyheter, > Sweden's largest newspaper, based in Stockholm. The article was written by > Ole Rothenborg and translated by Joe Valasek. Khaled Bayomi, has taught and > researched on Middle Eastern conflicts for ten years at the University of > Lund where he is also working on his doctorate. He has given his permission > for this interview to be widely disseminated. > > Khaled Bayomi looks surprised when the American officer on TV complains > that they don't have the resources to stop the plundering in Baghdad. "I > happened to be right there just as the American troops encouraged people to > begin the plundering." > > Khaled Bayomi traveled from Europe to Baghdad to be a human shield and > arrived on the same day that the war began. About this he can tell many > stories but the most interesting is certainly his eyewitness account of the > wave of plundering. > > "I had gone to see some friends who live near a dilapidated area just past > Haifa Avenue on the west bank of the Tigris. It was the 8th of April and > the fighting was so intense that I was unable to return to the other side > of the river. In the afternoon it became perfectly quiet and four American > tanks took places on the edge of the slum area. The soldiers shot two Suda > nese guards who stood at their posts outside a local administration > building on the other side of Haifa Avenue. Then they blasted apart the > doors to the building and from the tanks came eager calls in Arabic > encouraging people to come close to them. " > > "The entire morning, everyone who had tried to cross the road had been > shot. But in the strange silence after all the shooting, people gradually > became curious. After 45 minutes, the first Baghdad citizens dared to come > out. Arab interpreters in the tanks told the people to go and take what > they wanted in the building." > > "The word spread quickly and the building was ransacked. I was standing > only 300 yards from there when the guards were murdered. Afterwards the > tank crushed the entrance to the Justice Department, which was in a > neighboring building, and the plundering continued there". > > "I stood in a large crowd and watched this together with them. They did not > partake in the plundering but dared not to interfere. Many had tears of > shame in their eyes. The next morning the plundering spread to the Modern > Museum, which lies a quarter mile farther north. There were also two crowds > there, one that plundered and one with watched with disgust." > > "Are you saying that it was US troops who initiated the plundering?' > > "Absolutely. The lack of jubilant scenes meant that the American troops > needed pictures of Iraqis who in different ways demonstrated hatred for > Saddam's regime." > > "The people pulled down a large statue of Saddam?" > > "Did they? It was an American tank that did that, right beside the hotel > where all the journalists stay. Until lunchtime on April 9, I did not see > one destroyed Saddam portrait. If people had wanted to pull down statues > they could have taken down some of the small ones without any help from > American tanks. If it had been a political upheaval, the people would have > pulled down statues first and then plundered." > > "Isn't it good that Saddam is gone?" > > "He's not gone. He has broken his army down into very small groups. That's > why there hasn't been a large battle. About the official state, you could > say that Saddam dissolved that already in 1992 and he's built a parallel > tribal structure that is totally decisive in Iraq. When the US began the > war, Saddam abandoned the state completely and now depends on the tribal > structure. That was why he abandoned the large cities without a fight." > > "Now the US is compelled to do everything themselves because there's no > political body within the country which will challenge the existing > structure. The two who came in from outside the country were annihilated at > once. (The reference here is to General Nazar al-Khazraji, who returned > from Denmark and the Shiite Muslim leader, Abdul Majid al-Khoei.) They were > cut to pieces with swords and knives by a furious crowd in Najaf because > they were thought to be American puppets. According to the Danish newspaper > BT, al-Khazraji was brought from Denmark to Iraq by the CIA." > > "Now we have an occupying power in place in Iraq that has not said how long > it intends to remain, has not given any plan for civilian rule and no date > for general elections. Enormous chaos is now to be expected." > > (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is > distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in > receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.) > > © : t r u t h o u t 2003