RIYADH, 14 April 2003 — The images of rampant looting and violence in the streets of Baghdad since its apparent “liberation” three days ago are no less disturbing than the horror that filled the screen after the first bombs fell on the Iraqi capital.
People in the Kingdom say they sympathize with the Iraqi people as they helplessly watch the piece-by-piece destruction of their own country, first at the hands of the invading forces and now at the hands of their own people.
Dr. Khaled Abdullah Al-Fawzan, board coordinator for the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society, said that he was dismayed by the looting at hospitals, where conditions were already awful.
“Everyone is just thinking of himself,” he said, adding that as many nurses and doctors are staying at home out of fear or concern for their own families, the patients are left in the hospital without care or treatment. He also expressed concern over the shortage of medication and electricity, which especially threatened the lives of those in ICU and CCU units.
On Friday, the Red Cross said that hospitals were near collapse in Baghdad. Looters have ransacked hospitals and carried off hospital property and essential medical supplies desperately needed by others. Surgical instruments were missing from cases in Medical City hospital and looters had stolen medical equipment and beds — the patients in one hospital had to lie on the floor because of a shortage of beds — from Al-Kindi hospital.
In addition to hospitals, looters had also damaged other essential public facilities including schools. UNICEF offices were also attacked, which came as a shock to many Iraqis and others alike who were aware of UNICEF’s vital role in providing humanitarian aid to Iraqi women and children.
Dr. Al-Fawzan said that people are unwilling to share the few resources they have; instead each person wants to “take it all.” He emphasized the need for security to keep the looters in check and said that the main problem was the “loss of security” in the capital.
Mahmood Tariq, store manager for Tamimi supermarket in Riyadh, said that he was shocked by what he saw in Baghdad in the last few days.
“It was very appalling,” said Tariq. “Whatever the cause of anger, it is shameful for a Muslim population to go to that extent of violence and lawlessness.”
Iraq had once been a beacon of knowledge in the Islamic world and admired for its great libraries, scholars and its contributions to Islamic civilization. Tariq said that Muslims once looked up to Iraq as a model of a great nation and that it is a pity to see the country in its present state.
“It’s a beautiful country. How could they destroy it by their own hands?”
Dr. Mohammad Matar Al-Harbi, chairman of the College of Pharmacy at King Saud University, said that like any other person he feels terrible over the present situation in Baghdad. He said that the present state of chaos and lawlessness is the result of years of deprivation for the Iraqi people. “They behave this way because they have been depressed for 12 years.”
Dr. Al-Harbi said poverty was a major reason for the backlash and looting by the people.
Although there is no longer an official government or police force to enforce order in the city, some people said that being Muslims, the looters are still responsible to a higher authority and bound by religious law to maintain peace and justice.
The Iraqi people seem to have now reached “the height of frustration,” said Tariq.
He said he was deeply saddened to see that obligations to God and country were all forgotten and tossed aside when self-interest took center stage.
He said that in order to reinforce order in Baghdad, a neutral force was needed, and added that although the UN had now lost much of its power and authority in the eyes of the world, it should perhaps be given a chance to try to resolve the post-war problems in Iraq. American control, he said, would only worsen the situation and increase animosity between the locals and coalition forces.
US officials recently announced that they were dispatching the first contingent of 1,200 American police and judicial officers to help restore order. Some members of the Iraqi police were also working with US Marines to stop the looting and violence.
However, until the return of law and order to the city, most people can do little but watch the further destruction of an already bleeding nation — a nation once hailed as the “Dar As Salam” or “City of Peace.”
And while buildings can be rebuilt and property restored, some damage is irreversible.
Looters recently broke into the Iraq National Museum, looting and destroying artifacts, some dating as far back as 5000 BC. Many people watched with pain as the history of a great nation crumbled at the hands of those who had little regard for it.
