U.S. Troops Looted Baghdad Airport

Arriving in Iraq late April, army civil-affairs officer Lieutenant John Welsh was alarmed to find that cassettes, expensive watches, alcohol, perfumes and cigarettes had been looted from the duty-free shop at Saddam International Airport. He locked up what was left and handed it over to the shop’s owner.

"I don’t want to detract from all the great work that’s going into getting the airport running again, But you’ve got to ask if this could have been avoided…Did we shoot ourselves in the foot here?" Welsh said, as Iraqi airport and U.S. officials said the looting took place over a two-week period.

"The man (the shop’ owner) had tears in his eyes when I showed him what we had saved…He thought he’d lost everything," said Welsh.

Five of the 10 Iraqi Boeing aircraft initially found to be serviceable were later torn up by U.S. soldiers for trophies, including seats, *censored*pit equipment and other mementos, TIME said. They were a B-737, a B-747, and three B-727s.

U.S. estimates for damage range from a few million dollars to 100 million, according the weekly.

U.S. soldiers looking for comfortable seats and souvenirs ripped out many of the planes’ fittings, slashed seats, damaged *censored*pit equipment and popped out every windshield.

"It’s unlikely any of the planes will fly again," Welsh said.

The latest issue of the news weekly, which goes on sale Monday, July 5, Windows and virtually every door in the airport were also smashed, according to TIME. And English-language graffiti had been scrawled throughout, while a sign in English warned that looters and vandals would be court-martialed.

Airport workers say even now air conditioners and other equipment are regularly stolen.

It was soldiers of the U.S. Third Infantry Division who invaded the airport, the magazine notes. Iraqi airport staff, also cited by the magazine, said that a number of Iraqi exiles attached to the U.S. army were involved in the destruction, but these Iraqis too were under American control.

"There was no chance this was done by Iraqis; the airport was secure when this was done," said a senior Pentagon official.

"If we’re here to rebuild the country, then anything we break we have to fix. We need to train these guys to go from shoot-it-up to securing infrastructure. Otherwise we’re just making more work for ourselves. And we have to pay for it," Welsh said.