The Iraqi cops have the same uniform as the Army - I wouldn't want to be wearing one while shooting is going on.

And until today, they had absolutely no place to go or anyone to report to. Now that we have spread the word on where to report, a couple of thousand have shown up. If they survive a couple of days, the rest might.

But they need new uniforms, or at least a big vat of blue dye. Even granting that this all happened in about half the time expected, I fear we fell down in this regard.

**WE** didn't fall down. This looting is no different than has happened during virtually any other war in recent history, except that the media keeps harping on it in a sly attempt to throw the worst possible light on the situation.

Cops seeing people running down the street with stuff that isn't theirs don't need "someone to report to" in order to figure out what's going on. But there is little doubt even the police force in Baghdad was merely an extension of the dictatorship and fled with the other rats fleeing the sinking ship of state.

Extension of the dictatorship? Well, maybe, but a lot were just cops. The system was a cross between the Nazi and USSR, with various police groups doing different things, even if thieves ended up in the same prisons as dissidents.

Rather like the KGB. We almost always think of spies and "wet" ops - but the KGB was also the internal police force.