final on Baghdad Looting *Started* and *Encouraged* by US Troops

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Larry Tesler <tesler () pobox com>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 01:35:12 -0700
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Baghdad Looting *Started* and *Encouraged* by US Troops

Dave,

This portion of the week-old article that Seth Johnson forwarded is
at best misleading:

> "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. ..."

I watched that event live on British TV. Iraqis tried to pull the
statue down with ropes. They also tried to destroy the pedestal with
a sledge hammer. Only after hours without success, the American
soldiers brought a better rope and pulley and toppled the statue with
a tank.

> 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 don't give this "eyewitness" much credence. Most human shields
would only put themselves in such a dangerous situation if they were
absolutely convinced of their views. That degree of conviction tends
to cause everything perceived to be interpreted consistent with those
views.

Larry




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