Plunder.

This is coolbert:

In the aftermath of the terrorist massacre in Kenya this very troubling headline and story thanks to Fox News:

"Kenyan Troops Suspected of Shoplifting from Stores Damaged by Terror Attack"

"Jewelry cases smashed. Mobile phones ripped from displays. Cash registers emptied. Alcohol stocks plundered."

"For the second time in two months, poorly paid Kenyan security forces that moved in to control an emergency are being accused of robbing the very property they were supposed to protect. First the troops were accused of looting during a huge fire in August at Nairobi’s main airport."

"Now shop owners at Westgate Mall are returning to their stores after last week’s devastating terrorist attack to find displays ransacked and valuables stolen."

These mall shop owners were interviewed and their outrage very intense.

This was systematic and pervasive looting by Kenyan security forces. Cash registers and safes broken into, major theft occurring, NOT minor pilferage.

Kenyan security forces taking advantage of a situation AND THIS NOT BEING THE FIRST TIME!

And for the victims found dead in the mall, perhaps rings ripped off fingers,  watches removed from wrists, wallets emptied, etc. That too? I fear so.

These Kenyan military contingents supposedly and hopefully so fully trained and ready counter-terrorist and counter-hostage taking units, the personnel of which hand-picked, that selection process and training most meticulous? Troops of the highest possible quality, reliable and trustworthy even to an extreme. You might think so. This is the case? It does make you wonder.

From that era of two hundred years ago, during the Napoleonic Era, theft and looting of dead and wounded on the battlefield quite common.

Those officers especially of noble rank and independent wealth and means, often that wealth of substantial value, taking extreme measures to prevent "being stripped" in the aftermath of their demise.

Soldiers and civilians both guilty of pilferage from the vanquished.

As described by Sir John Keegan in his book "The Face of Battle: [at Waterloo]

"Waterloo prize money for privates amounted to two Pounds English currency [plus a slight more]. Very much larger sums than that - - which equaled forty days pay - - were to be found; however, on the bodies of the dead and wounded, for the only safe storage for valuable in an army without bankers was about the person. Officers knew very well what would happen to their coin and watches once they were hit; hence the fund of stories - - beloved, if misunderstood, by Victorian readers - - of stricken officers sending for their best friends to receive their trinkets . . . but that evening 'plunder was for sale in great quantities, chiefly gold and silver watches, rings, etc.'"

As it was at Waterloo, so it is now in Nairobi, and in time of war, always will be!

coolbert.