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Americans defend two
untouchable ministries
from the hordes of looters
By Robert Fisk in
Baghdad
The London Independent,
14 April 2003
Iraqís scavengers
have thieved and destroyed
what they have been allowed
to loot and burn by the
Americans -- and a two-hour
drive around Baghdad shows
clearly what the US intends
to protect. After days
of arson and pillage,
here's a short but revealing
scorecard. US troops have
sat back and allowed mobs
to wreck and then burn
the Ministry of Planning,
the Ministry of Education,
the Ministry of Irrigation,
the Ministry of Trade,
the Ministry of Industry,
the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Ministry
of Culture and the Ministry
of Information. They did
nothing to prevent looters
from destroying priceless
treasures of Iraq's history
in the Baghdad Archaeological
Museum and in the museum
in the northern city of
Mosul, or from looting
three hospitals.
The Americans have, though,
put hundreds of troops
inside two Iraqi ministries
that remain untouched
-- and untouchable --
because tanks and armoured
personnel carriers and
Humvees have been placed
inside and outside
both institutions. And
which ministries proved
to be so important for
the Americans? Why, the
Ministry of Interior,
of course -- with its
vast wealth of intelligence
information on Iraq --
and the Ministry of Oil.
The archives and files
of Iraqís most
valuable asset -- its
oilfields and, even more
important, its massive
reserves -- are safe and
sound, sealed off from
the mobs and looters,
and safe to be shared,
as Washington almost certainly
intends, with American
oil companies.
It casts an interesting
reflection on America's
supposed war aims. Anxious
to "liberate"
Iraq, it allows its people
to destroy the infrastructure
of government as well
as the private property
of Saddam's henchmen.
Americans insist that
the oil ministry is a
vital part of Iraqís
inheritance, that
the oilfields are to be
held in trust "for
the Iraqi people."
But is the Ministry of
Trade -- relit yesterday
by an enterprising arsonist
-- not vital to the future
of Iraq? Are the Ministry
of Education and the Ministry
of Irrigation -- still
burning fiercely -- not
of critical importance
to the next government?
The Americans could spare
2,000 soldiers to protect
the Kirkuk oilfields but
couldn't even invest 200
to protect the Mosul
museum from attack. US
engineers were confidently
predicting that the Kirkuk
oilfields will be capable
of pumping again "within
weeks."
There was much talk of
a "new posture"
from the Americans yesterday.
Armoured and infantry
patrols suddenly appeared
on the middle-class streets
of the capital, ordering
young men hauling fridges,
furniture and television
sets to deposit their
loot on the pavement if
they could not prove ownership.
It was pitiful. After
billions of dollars of
government buildings,
computers and archives
have been destroyed, the
Americans are stopping
teens driving mule-drawn
carts loaded with second-hand
chairs.
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