Harry Hope wrote:

From The Associated Press, 8/25/06:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-base-looted,0,7143877.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Iraqis Loot Base After British Leave

By HAIDAR HANI
Associated Press Writer

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."

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The beginning of the end?

Harry