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US steps up efforts to curb loot
Baghdad, Apr 12: As looting persisted today across Iraq, US officials said that they will send 1,200 police and judicial officers to help restore order. US commanders indicated the last major military challenge, taking Saddam Hussein`s hometown, may be easier than expected thanks to desertions and relentless bombing.
Baghdad, Apr 12: As looting persisted today across Iraq, US officials said that they will send 1,200 police and judicial officers to help restore order. US commanders indicated the last major military challenge, taking Saddam Hussein`s hometown, may be easier than expected thanks to desertions and relentless bombing.
Troops remained focused on erasing military threats instead of curbing lawlessness. In Baghdad, US Marines showed reporters a cache of about 50 explosives-laden suicide bomb vests in an elementary school less than 20 feet from the nearest home.
At a nearby junior high school, seven classrooms were filled with hundreds of crates of grenade launchers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition. Residents said that Iraqi soldiers and militiamen had positioned weaponry throughout the neighborhood before US forces moved in.
"We didn`t imagine this much stuff here," said lt. David Wright. "Every 200 meters we find something."
Searching for weapons, and for holdout bands of pro-Saddam fighters, has been the primary task of many of the American troops in Baghdad. But US officials, criticized for doing too little to curtail the looting, say the restoration of law and order will become a higher priority.
The state department said it is sending 26 police and judicial officers to Iraq, the first component of a team that will eventually number about 1,200. The officers will be part of a group led by jay garner, the retired general chosen by the Bush administration to run the initial Iraqi civil administration under American occupation.
Much of the looting in Baghdad and other cities has targeted government ministries and the homes of former regime leaders, but looters also have ransacked foreign embassies, stolen ambulances from hospitals and robbed some private businesses.
US forces reopened two strategic bridges today in the heart of Baghdad, enabling looters to pillage new territory. Us forces watched as plunderers swarmed into several government buildings, including the planning ministry on the West Bank of the Tigris river, and emerged with bookshelves, sofas and computers.
Aid organizations, as well as many Baghdad residents, have pleaded with US officials to crack down on the looting.
In western Iraq, US troops seized control of crossings on two highways leading into Syria. There was tough resistance near Qaim, on the Syrian border, raising speculation that the town might be site for illegal weapons.
Next, the US-led coalition is expected to focus on Saddam`s hometown, Tikrit, where some Iraqi forces are believed to be regrouping. However, the US Central Command officials said many of the troops there have fled in the face of heavy airstrikes, and the remnants may not be able to muster an effective defence.
Tikrit, 90 miles , northwest of Baghdad, has long been a power center for Iraq`s Sunni Muslim tribes, who may plan to resist as long as possible out of fear of losing power to the Shiite Muslim majority. Saddam drew many members of his inner circle from Tikrit, and built several fortified palaces and military installations there.
Russia, France and Germany, all opposed to the war in the first place continued to oppose what they view as a US effort to dominate the rebuilding process. They maintain that a UN-led effort would have a better chance of establishing lasting peace in Iraq.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met yesterday in St. Petersburg, Russia, with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss Iraq. Putin said that the war has under mined the concept of national sovereignty, while Schroeder said that the United Nations should take charge of postwar reconstruction.
Next week, a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be briefed by the Bush administration on its plans for postwar Iraq. The UN said that Rafeeuddin Ahmed was invited for briefings by the state department, defence department and National Security Council tomorrow.
Annan contends that only the United Nations can bring legitimacy to the work of rebuilding Iraq. The Bush administration says the US-led coalition will take the lead in running and rebuilding the country.
Bureau Report
At a nearby junior high school, seven classrooms were filled with hundreds of crates of grenade launchers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition. Residents said that Iraqi soldiers and militiamen had positioned weaponry throughout the neighborhood before US forces moved in.
"We didn`t imagine this much stuff here," said lt. David Wright. "Every 200 meters we find something."
Searching for weapons, and for holdout bands of pro-Saddam fighters, has been the primary task of many of the American troops in Baghdad. But US officials, criticized for doing too little to curtail the looting, say the restoration of law and order will become a higher priority.
The state department said it is sending 26 police and judicial officers to Iraq, the first component of a team that will eventually number about 1,200. The officers will be part of a group led by jay garner, the retired general chosen by the Bush administration to run the initial Iraqi civil administration under American occupation.
Much of the looting in Baghdad and other cities has targeted government ministries and the homes of former regime leaders, but looters also have ransacked foreign embassies, stolen ambulances from hospitals and robbed some private businesses.
US forces reopened two strategic bridges today in the heart of Baghdad, enabling looters to pillage new territory. Us forces watched as plunderers swarmed into several government buildings, including the planning ministry on the West Bank of the Tigris river, and emerged with bookshelves, sofas and computers.
Aid organizations, as well as many Baghdad residents, have pleaded with US officials to crack down on the looting.
In western Iraq, US troops seized control of crossings on two highways leading into Syria. There was tough resistance near Qaim, on the Syrian border, raising speculation that the town might be site for illegal weapons.
Next, the US-led coalition is expected to focus on Saddam`s hometown, Tikrit, where some Iraqi forces are believed to be regrouping. However, the US Central Command officials said many of the troops there have fled in the face of heavy airstrikes, and the remnants may not be able to muster an effective defence.
Tikrit, 90 miles , northwest of Baghdad, has long been a power center for Iraq`s Sunni Muslim tribes, who may plan to resist as long as possible out of fear of losing power to the Shiite Muslim majority. Saddam drew many members of his inner circle from Tikrit, and built several fortified palaces and military installations there.
Russia, France and Germany, all opposed to the war in the first place continued to oppose what they view as a US effort to dominate the rebuilding process. They maintain that a UN-led effort would have a better chance of establishing lasting peace in Iraq.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met yesterday in St. Petersburg, Russia, with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss Iraq. Putin said that the war has under mined the concept of national sovereignty, while Schroeder said that the United Nations should take charge of postwar reconstruction.
Next week, a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be briefed by the Bush administration on its plans for postwar Iraq. The UN said that Rafeeuddin Ahmed was invited for briefings by the state department, defence department and National Security Council tomorrow.
Annan contends that only the United Nations can bring legitimacy to the work of rebuilding Iraq. The Bush administration says the US-led coalition will take the lead in running and rebuilding the country.
Bureau Report