Trafficking In Bad Taste

This is good to see. As we attempt to establish law and order in Baghdad, showing the Iraqis that we are willing to arrest our own for looting will set an excellent example of our willingness to be even-handed.

There is only one part that I really don't agree with the government on here. I agree that we shouldn't allow the importation of Iraqi artwork (at least not from Saddam's palaces - in the interest of good taste and all). We should also restrict the movement of high value items like gold plated weapons and the importation of large weapons (no T-55s in the duffel bag, please).

But we should allow soldiers to bring back small arms. Pistols, knifes, ceremonial swords (not gold plated) and the like should all be allowed. What constitutes a "small arm?" I don't know. An AK-47 would be borderline - I'd be ok if they allowed soldiers to bring them back; I'd be ok if they forbade them. Anti-tank guns, AAA guns, tanks, APCs - those should all be forbidden. But not small weapons.

Small weapons can be a soldier's link to the memories of the battle they just endured. Those weapons are as much a part of the victorious soldier's life as they of the defeated soldier.

That little quibble aside, I'm very glad to see that we are making a real effort to curb the trafficking in stolen items. We just need to make sure that we differentiate between theft and the collection of memories. The Fox News engineer stole (and is guilty of bad taste if he's stealing art from Uday); a soldier in the field picking up a 9 mm isn't. But I'm sure that someone higher up than me has already thought of that.