New Policy in Iraq to Authorize G.I.'s to Shoot Looters

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

A little more than a month ago:

*****   United States Department of Defense
News Transcript
On the web: http://dod.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030411-secdef0090.html
Media contact: media@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or +1 (703) 697-5131
Public contact: public@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or +1 (703) 428-0711

Presenter: Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Friday, April 11, 2003 - 2:00 p.m. EDT
DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers . . . .

Q: Yes, but Mr. Secretary, I'm asking about what plan was there to
restore law and order?

Rumsfeld: . . . . Think what's happened in our cities when we've had
riots, and problems, and looting. Stuff happens! But in terms of
what's going on in that country, it is a fundamental misunderstanding
to see those images over, and over, and over again of some boy
walking out with a vase and say, "Oh, my goodness, you didn't have a
plan." That's nonsense. They know what they're doing, and they're
doing a terrific job. And it's untidy, and freedom's untidy, and free
people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.
. . .

[The full text of the transcript is available at
<http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030411-secdef0090.html>.]
*****

Now:

*****   New York Times   May 14, 2003
New Policy in Iraq to Authorize G.I.'s to Shoot Looters
By PATRICK E. TYLER

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 13 - United States military forces in Iraq will
have the authority to shoot looters on sight under a tough new
security setup that will include hiring more police officers and
banning ranking members of the Baath Party from public service,
American officials said today.

The far more muscular approach to bringing order to postwar Iraq was
described by the new American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, at a
meeting of senior staff members today, the officials said. On
Wednesday, Mr. Bremer is expected to meet with the leaders of Iraqi
political groups that are seeking to form an interim government by
the end of the month. "He made it very clear that he is now in
charge," said an official who attended the meeting today. "I think
you are going to see a change in the rules of engagement within a few
days to get the situation under control."

Asked what this meant, the official replied, "They are going to start
shooting a few looters so that the word gets around" that assaults on
property, the hijacking of automobiles and violent crimes will be
dealt with using deadly force.

How Iraqis will be informed of the new rules is not clear. American
officials in Iraq have access to United States-financed radio
stations, which could broadcast the changes.

A tougher approach over all appears to be at the core of Mr. Bremer's
mandate from President Bush to save the victory in Iraq from a
descent into anarchy, a possibility feared by some Iraqi political
leaders if steps are not taken quickly to check violence and
lawlessness.

But imposing measures that call for the possible killing of young,
unemployed or desperate Iraqis for looting appears to carry a certain
level of risk because of the volatile sentiments in the streets here.
Gas lines snake through neighborhoods, garbage piles up, and the
increasing heat frequently provides combustion for short tempers,
which are not uncommonly directed at the American presence here.

Mr. Bremer did not spell out to senior members of the American and
British reconstruction team whether his authority would supersede
that of Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the land forces commander in the
country.

But in tackling the security problem, Mr. Bremer will confront the
need for a police force, and the difficulty of building a credible
one on the wreckage of Saddam Hussein's hated security establishment
. . . .

[The full article is available at
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/14/international/worldspecial/14IRAQ.html>.]
*****

*****   New York Times May 15, 2003
Shooting to Kill
By BOB HERBERT

The cover of the July 28, 1967, issue of Life magazine was one of the
grimmest I'd ever seen. It showed a 12-year-old black kid in filthy
sneakers and worn-out jeans sprawled on the filthy pavement of a
street in Newark.

His left arm was bent at a gruesome angle. Blood was pooling beneath
his body. He looked dead.

The article was about the Newark riots, one of the most violent
outbursts of the 1960's.

The war in Vietnam was raging at the time. I remember staring at the
magazine as I sat on a footlocker in one of the barracks at Fort
Belvoir, Va. I was a very young buck sergeant who was finishing out
his last few months in the service. While others were serving in
Vietnam, I'd spent 14 months in South Korea. I couldn't wait for
September and my discharge to come around.

I opened the magazine, still thinking about the kid on the cover. He
was like zillions of kids I had grown up with. It was sad,
depressing. Then I got to Pages 20 and 21. They are still shocking to
me.

There, in a sequence of photos that would go on for four pages, was a
guy I had known in my hometown of Montclair, N.J., a casual friend
named Billy Furr.

The sequence starts with Billy looting beer from a liquor store. Then
a squad car pulls up and police officers with shotguns jump out.
Billy takes off, the tails of his light-colored shirt flapping. A
uniformed cop in a yellow hard hat lifts his shotgun to his shoulder,
aims and fires.

In a photo that covers two-thirds of Page 22, Billy lies on the
blood-stained sidewalk, dead. On the next page was another photo of
the 12-year-old boy. He was a bystander who was hit in the neck and
thigh. Although seriously wounded, he would recover.

This all came back to me yesterday with the news report out of
Baghdad that U.S. military forces would be authorized to shoot
looters on sight. The first thing I thought was that Billy Furr had
been dead these 36 years because he stole some beer. It was wrong,
but the barbaric punishment in no way fit the crime.

Now, in the dawn of the 21st century, when this nation above all
others is supposed to be a model of progress and fairness and justice
and due process, the U.S. military was to be given the high sign to
start shooting Iraqis like dogs in the street.

The news article, by The Times's Patrick Tyler, said the
authorization to shoot looters on sight would be part of "a tough new
security setup" that included the hiring of additional police
officers and curbs on the use of high-ranking Baath Party officials
in public service positions.

Mr. Tyler wrote:

"The far more muscular approach to bringing order to postwar Iraq was
described by the American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, at a meeting
of senior staff members [Tuesday], the officials said."

This government, I thought, is losing its mind. I went to the
computer and began to put this column together. The president, the
secretary of defense, military authorities and anyone else in a
position of command should know that a policy of shooting looters on
sight is wrong, and if it was being considered it needed to be
stopped in its tracks . . . .

Americans should take a long, honest look in the mirror. We'll find
that it's impossible to look good in the ugly garb of a colonial
power.

[The full text is available at
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/15/opinion/15HERB.html>.]   *****

*****   U.S. forces shoot looter in Iraq
By Pauline Jelinek

May 15, 2003  |  WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day after denying a
shoot-to-kill policy against Iraqi looters, U.S. forces wounded a
looter from a group they said fired on Americans.

Looters fired on 101st Airborne Assault Division soldiers Thursday
morning in Mosul, said the U.S. Central Command. Soldiers returned
fire on the looters, wounding one, and four others escaped, it said .
. . .

[The full text is available at
<http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/05/15/looter/>.]   *****
--
Yoshie

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