FYI
Ian Welsh at Fire Dog Lake does a nice job explaining why things went to hell after the Iraqi army stopped fighting in the post: The Rules of Power.
This is very old knowledge and applies not simply to wars, but to policing everywhere. If you think about it, this is also the reason that schools should be aggressively stopping bullying, and why it is so hard to uproot gangs.
The minute that the US forces allowed looting to continue, they lost control. It is a lot easier to maintain control than to regain it.
