Well, Sad Guest, American troops could use the British alternative of shooting looters(BBC story here). Now, granted, these looters were robbing a bank, and they may have opened fire first, but combat soldiers are not police officers. The British soldiers reacted just as they were trained to do, and I expect the Americans would do the same. Have you watched the video of these people? A lot of them are carrying pistols and AK-47s. Is an old desk or a Sumerian statuette worth igniting a battle in the streets?

I suppose its too bad the Iraqis collapsed so fast, otherwise the "Coalition" would have had time to get their own police force organized. Its what?...four days since "the fall of Baghdad?" There is still fighting going on in the city. This isn't network television, when an entire show plays out in an hour. War sucks, and, as brother Rumsfeld said, "bad things happen." I hope that, a week from now, we are all as surprised at how fast order was restored as most of us are at the speed at which things have gone so far.