Freedom as Theft

Tom Engelhardt
...The Iraqi looting began almost as soon as American troops entering Baghdad in April 2003 -- and those occupying troops, without orders to lift a finger, did just about nothing (except, tellingly, guard the Oil Ministry) as Baghdad burned. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld signaled just what kind of an era of liberation was indeed dawning. At a press briefing, with the verbal equivalent of a wink and a nod, he responded to a question about the looting of the Iraqi capital by saying, "Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that's what's going to happen here." And he offered his infamous tag line for the ongoing disaster, "Stuff happens." It's been happening ever since as those liberated by the invasion -- the privateers, the freebooters, the crony capitalists, the neocon dreamers, the black marketeers and oil siphoneers, the mercenaries and criminals of every sort -- were freed to do their damnedest in an atmosphere that combined the "wild East" with a gold-rush mentality amid spiralling chaos, mayhem, and destruction...
continua / continued