IRAQ

Independent: A city in flames. A nation in chaos
Baghdad: Regime buildings are set ablaze; fears mount as looters run amok

Mosul: City captured by Kurdish forces; banks and shops ransacked by mob

Kirkuk: Marines take control of oilfields; anarchy as Kurdish troops begin pull-out

Basra: Looters shot dead by British forces

Chaos threatened to engulf Iraq yesterday, with American-led forces apparently unwilling or unable to deal with a storm of arson, looting, car-jacking, drunkenness and factional fighting that swept Baghdad, Mosul and other big cities.

The Red Cross, aid charities and Iraqi citizens pleaded with the US to honour its obligations under the Geneva Convention and protect the civilian population. But a senior commander said: "At no time do we really see [ourselves] becoming a police force."

After the capitulation of the northern city of Mosul – scene of some of the most frantic looting and destruction yesterday – a reported 2,000 US troops were deployed to secure the northern oilfields, bringing all of Iraq's oil reserves, the second largest in the world, under American and British protection. But US commanders in the field said they did not have the manpower, or the orders from above, to control the scenes on the streets of Baghdad and other cities

"Wenn Mr. Rumsfeld die Genfer Kovention ganz gelesen hätte wüsste er das eine Besatzungsmacht für den Schutz Zivilbevölkerung und die Aufrechterhaltung der Ordnung verantwortlich ist und nicht nur für den Schutz von Ölfeldern"