In Iraq, “when looting first broke out on April 9 [2003], there were indeed tanks stationed on the bridges over the river Tigris, which divides east and west Baghdad. As a result, potential looters were confined to the eastern side for that day, and the next. West Baghdad remained relatively peaceful and secure. On April […]
4/11/2003
“In an April 11 [2003] press conference, where his remarks were interspersed with slides of cheerful GIs in company with happy Iraqis, he [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] infamously exclaimed, ‘Stuff happens,’ citing the American urban riots of the 1960s as precedent. The main fault, he made clear, lay with the media. ‘In terms of […]
4/11/2003
In Iraq, after troops entered Baghdad on April 9, 2003, “Looting on a massive scale broke out, but U.S. forces did not attempt to stop it. When reporters asked about the escalating level of violence and chaos in Baghdad [on April 11, 2003], Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made his now famous comment: ‘Freedom is […]
4/11/2003
“At the Pentagon, [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld dismissed the looting [in Baghdad] at a briefing on April 11 [2003] with his now-infamous phrase, ‘stuff happens,’ and publicly the [Bush] administration took the position that disorder was to be expected.” – Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Page 213 […]
4/11/2003
“The U.S. Army, ordered to stand aside, watched as the national infrastructure [in Iraq] was carried away, a turn of events shrugged off by [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld with the explanation [on April 11, 2003, that] ‘Freedom’s untidy…Stuff happens.’ While the Army was watching the looters it was not watching the vast Iraqi arms […]
4/10/2003
“Early in April 2003, the CIA flew [Shi’ite cleric Majid] al-Khoei to Iraq and escorted him to his native city of Najaf. A few days after his arrival [April 10, 2003], he was hacked to death by a mob with the apparent complicity or even encouragement of a younger and then relatively unknown [radical Shi’ite] […]
4/10/2003
In Iraq, on April 10, 2003, “One Marine officer standing on a tank at a checkpoint in eastern Baghdad said that the locals had repeatedly asked him why his unit had done nothing to stop the rampant looting; he explained that he had no orders to do so. ‘I tell them the truth,’ the officer […]
4/10/2003
“Eager to encourage the emergence of pro-American Muslim leaders in Iraq, the CIA arranged in early April 2003 for a moderate Shiite cleric, Abd al-Majid al-Kho’i, to fly into Iraq from his exile in London. …the agency believed he could be a stabilizing influence in the Shiite community. The decision to fly him into Iraq […]
4/10/2003
After the close of the ground war in Iraq, Commander of Coalition Forces “General [Tommy] Franks had ordered Iraqi troops on April 10 [2003] to ‘remain in uniform at all times. Maintain unit integrity and good order and discipline in your units.’ But those plans had not taken into account the harsh reality of life […]
4/10/2003
From The Washington Post on April 10, 2003: “Throughout the Arab world also, many were happy to see the end of Saddam Hussein but at the same time were distrustful of the American occupation [of Iraq]. ‘Please, America must hear our voices,’ pleaded Diaa Rashwan, a political scientist at Cairo’s Ahram Center for Political and […]