US marines remove cash from Baghdad banks to prevent looting

BAGHDAD (AFP) Apr 16, 2003
US marines have found a new role for themselves in the Iraqi capital, as security guards collecting money from banks to prevent it from falling into the hands of looters.

A marine identified only as Lieutenant Colonel McCoy said his men began the work on Tuesday, because it was impossible to put troops in front of each bank to protect it, and that the money had now been collected from six banks.

Watched by a large crowd Wednesday, marines, accompanied by two Iraqi policeman, threw bundles of notes taken from the basement of the Rashid Bank on Jumhuriya Street into the back of a military truck.

Critics have blamed US forces for failing to intervene in the extensive pillaging of the capital and other Iraqi cities following the collapse of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime in the face of US-led coalition forces.

SPACE.WIRE