IRAQ: U.S. FORCES STRUGGLE TO CONTROL LOOTING AND CIVIL DISORDER

Record ID: 862029

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. FORCES STRUGGLE TO CONTROL LOOTING AND CIVIL DISORDER
  • Date: 3rd August 2003
  • Summary: (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 11, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV EXTERIOR AL-RASHID HOTEL; SLV GRAND PIANO ON PAVEMENT, MUSIC STILL PLAYING; SLV LOOTING (4 SHOTS) MV INTERIOR LAVISH HOTEL ROOMS / DAMAGE / LOOTERS TAKING TELEVISION SET AND CHAIR; SLV LOBBY OF HOTEL MV LOOTERS RUNNING THROUGH HOTEL LOBBY (4 SHOTS) SLV EXTERIOR / LOOTERS TAKING GOODS TO THEIR CARS (2 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED MAN, SAYING "All these items being ransacked belong to someone. This is such a shame. It is such a shame, a sin. If only we could have Saddam to come back. Every day, we will remember Saddam." SLV PAN MORE OF PEOPLE LOADING THEIR VEHICLES WITH LOOTED GOODS (8 SHOTS) MV INTERIOR / HOTEL ROOMS BEING RANSACKED; MV PARKING GARAGE / DAMAGE; SLV PEOPLE CARRYING LOOTED GOODS PAST U.S. SOLDIERS (5 SHOTS) SLV US SOLDIERS NEAR HOTEL GATES LOOTERS WALK BY CARRYING LOOTED ITEMS (5 SHOTS) MV WOUNDED FROM NEARBY STREET BEING LOADED ON BACK OF TRUCK BY US TROOPS
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA8PXC5XFUCOWMPFXL1DTYBSFW0
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: U.S. forces in the Iraqi capital are struggling to control looting and civil disorder which have shattered much of the euphoria that marked the end of Saddam Hussein's rule.
    The Al-Rashid hotel, a Baghdad landmark, also home to the media during times of war, fell victim to the swathe of looting taking hold of the Iraqi capital on Friday (April 11, 2003).
    A piano was left abandoned at the entrance, still playing tunes but, inside, there were no more guests.
    Mobs of looters invaded the premises unopposed and took pieces from the building which also housed journalists during the Gulf war in 1991.
    An Iraqi nearby, watching the scene, said he wished Saddam Hussein would return to Baghdad to restore law and order.
    People left the hotel carrying anything, from furniture to fridges, from air conditionings to television sets.
    U.S. soldiers at the hotel gates could only look on in amazement as the looters ran away with everything they could.
    American soldiers helped a local to put an injured Iraqi into the back of one the trucks near the hotel.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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