Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Rule of lawlessness

Maybe blind support for U.S. troops isn't deserved after all:
A company of the California Army National Guard has been put on restricted duty and its battalion plunged into disarray amid allegations that soldiers engaged in misconduct in Iraq, including mistreatment of detainees and extortion from shopkeepers, according to military officials and members of the battalion...

Among the allegations now under investigation is that at least six soldiers from the battalion took part in a scheme to extort money from Iraqi shopkeepers, apparently in exchange for protection from insurgents.

The payments allegedly exceeded $30,000, two sources said, and were made in U.S. currency, according to one member of the battalion who has been briefed on the investigation. Another soldier said the scheme allegedly was carried out during night patrols in the Baghdad area.

I suppose it's ultimately the result of the U.S. exporting its governance systems. But this can't be doing any good for Iraqis' collective view of the occupiers, or for their motivation to try to build a corruption-free society in the long term.

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