Looters & Thieves

Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues

October 24, 2009

So much has been stolen and looted from Iraq, from my Beloved's lap, treasures, boxes, and shelves...

If I tell you that it is in the billion of Dollars, be it in cash or or in things/goods...I am not exaggerating one bit.

I, for one was a witness, and I saw it with my own two eyes, 675 million dollars in cash, taken by the US soldiers in trunks in 2003, to be "counted in New York". This money is still in New York.

I have hundreds of stories of US soldiers looting homes they raided, stealing the money, the jewelery, even the food...

I have hundreds of stories and some I have covered in the past, of U.S soldiers and journalists/reporters looting the personal belongings including clothes of Saddam Hussein's family, even Saddam Hussein's shoes and selling them in South Africa, Australia, and the U.S or keeping them as "souvenirs".

And here, I don't even wish to broach the subject of the looting of Iraq's antiquities, by your own soldiers and even by your U.N team of inspectors, inspectors fo WMDs which were never found and that was back in the 90's. They were caught time and time again at the borders smuggling Iraq's ancient artifacts. I want to keep this for later...because however much I write, I will never be done with you. You, barbaric, immoral, deceitful, hypocritical, greedy, envious, jealous, backward, depraved, decadent lot.

Now another official story of looting adds itself to your long list of thefts and burglaries.

This story was relayed in Akhbar Al-Khaleej News and kindly translated by Aziz, whom I deeply thank.

A senior official at the presidential palace at the time of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said American soldiers looted the precious treasures which made up the Gift Gallery of President Saddam Hussein. The source said three U.S. tanks surrounded the museum on April 6, 2003. The soldiers removed all the contents of the museum, which included rare and valuable gifts and other priceless items of the late President, given to him by various political figures, presidents and kings. The loot included gold jewelry and the total estimate of the number of items in the museum were 600'000 pieces. The source pointed out that the looting took more than 20 hours during which the museum was emptied of its contents and transferred then to an unknown location. It subsequently transpired that the loot was transferred to the United States, where former U.S. President George W. Bush said he received gold-plated pistols belonging to President Saddam Hussein and these pistols were one of the items among the 600'000 looted from Saddam's museum. The source added that the museum also included archives of the Iraqi state dating back to the the early 20's of last century as well as other important official documents pertaining to Iraq's political history, during the Monarchy - called the Royal wills plus all the the covenants right up to Saddam Hussein's era. The source estimated the value of the loot to 300 million Dollars, stressing that he and several of his colleagues were watching the loot from a house near by, a loot programmed by the Americans. American soldiers had identified the site for the museum and knew its contents before they entered Baghdad and the items stolen had gone to U.S personalities, a large chunk of which, to U.S. former President George W. Bush, his Vice President and his Minister of Defense. The museum is located near Saddam Hussein's Baghdad clock and close to the presidential palace and is located in the region currently renamed the Green Zone. Saddam Hussein used to visit this museum occasionally and the very valuable gifts offered to him by Arab and foreign countries cannot be estimated in money alone.

Yes, that is you America and Americans. Plunderers, thieves, looters, rapists, torturers, criminal murderers...

VILE, VILE, VILE.

Painting : Iraqi female artist, Hana MalAllah - Looting.