I find it quite interesting in general how differently the British and Americans are acting in Iraq. Yesterday on the night news, a journalist said he had the impression that the Americans are simply overwhelmed by the task of taking on police functions in addition to security duties. In a way, it's quite perverse: one has no problem destroying everything, but when it comes to securing and enforcing what is constantly talked about in the US administration, they are overwhelmed.
The statements from Rumsfeld on this are extremely interesting: essentially, he said that such things happen, that people who are free are also free to commit stupidities and crimes. Well, great. Wonderful attitude.
I much prefer the British approach, which at least tries to contain part of the chaos they have brought upon the people in Basra, instead of talking nonsense about how it's all just fine ...
Postscript: on http://lies.com/ someone posted some excerpts from and comments on Rumsfeld's briefing. And the Guardian also has an article about it.
At Hexentanz I found the original article.