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Iraqis cheer look baghdad { April 9 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61711-2003Apr9.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61711-2003Apr9.html
Iraqis Cheer U.S. Troops, Loot in Baghdad
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and HAMZA HENDAWI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 9, 2003; 5:21 AM
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis cheered arriving U.S. troops and then went on looting rampages as vestiges of President Saddam Hussein's authority collapsed.
As U.S. forces moved through one neighborhood after another, crowds of Baghdad residents seized the chance to plunder military installations and government buildings, making off with computers, bookshelves, tables, even Iraqi jeeps.
Among the buildings plundered were Iraq's Olympic headquarters and traffic police headquarters.
On Palestine Street, where the Baath party as recently as a few weeks back held rallies and shows of force, gangs of youths and even middle-aged men looted the warehouses of the Trade Ministry, coming out with air conditioners, ceiling fans, refrigerators and TV sets.
Hundreds of Iraqis cheered U.S. troops in Saddam City, a poor neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Bush!" one shouted.
A group of Iraqis held up a portrait of Saddam and started smashing it. A man declared: "This is for the criminal. We know what he did to our country."
Overnight, only a few explosions shattered the quiet of a city mostly shrouded in darkness because of a power outage now almost a week old. Explosions, tank shelling and gunfire rang out after daybreak in what was described as only sporadic resistance to U.S. forces trying to expand areas of the capital under their control.
The Army was pushing across the city from the west and the Marines from the east, and they hoped to link up Wednesday. U.S. forces were securing routes into the capital, repelling ambushes and trying to hunt down roving bands of fighters made up of three or four people.
The Arab language satellite TV station Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. reported from Baghdad that there was no sign of Iraqi government or military presence in the city.
LBC's correspondent Sultan Suleiman said neither Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf nor any ministry "minders" had shown up at the Palestine Hotel where hundreds of journalists are staying. The Iraqi government assigns "minders" to accompany journalists.
Suleiman said he toured Baghdad on Wednesday without being escorted by any Iraqi information ministry official. He reported looting of some government buildings in the capital.
The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division on the western side of Baghdad reported only sporadic fighting overnight, with small groups of Iraqi fighters firing assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and some mortars at U.S. troops. There were no reports of U.S. injuries.
Maj. Gen. Buford Blount II, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, visited a brigade command post set up at the New Presidential Palace, on the Tigris River in central Baghdad.
Col. David Perkins, the 2nd Brigade commander, told Blount that his forces can go anywhere in the city, whenever they want and meet only sporadic sniping.
"Last night was dramatically quieter than the night before and this morning is dramatically quieter than yesterday," Perkins said. He said most of the forces still fighting appear to be Special Republican Guard, Fedayeen militia, Baath Party loyalists and volunteers from neighboring countries.
The two commanders then discussed what buildings could be used to house military units and a new government to replace Saddam Hussein.
"That's the next mental jump, is for the Iraqis to realize that even if he is still alive, he's not in charge anymore," Perkins said.
Blount said he was pleased with the operation so far, but would not estimate how much longer it would take for U.S. forces to finish rooting out Saddam loyalists.
"We still have potential for a lot of fighting," Blount said. "We need to make sure the people of Baghdad are secure and we're trying to limit the collateral damage and we hope the people will help us do that by keeping the terrorist element under control."
The majority of regular Iraqi army soldiers and Republican Guard troops are believed to have deserted and gone home. Uniforms, boots and weapons litter the streets and fill fighting positions throughout the city.
Iraqi prisoners, most of them in civilian clothes, are describing to U.S. troops how they were recruited, loaded onto buses and then dumped on the streets to fight with little training or direction. Several Syrian fighters have been captured, some with documents declaring them suicide fighters.
A Syrian prisoner claimed that 5,000 Syrians had been taken by bus to Baghdad to help defend it.
Slowly, more Iraqi civilians are venturing out into the streets and greeting U.S. troops, mostly with smiles, waves or a thumbs-up. Others watch curiously as the hulking Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees drive down the streets.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said Tuesday he fully expected looting in Baghdad, as well as elsewhere where there is "a vacuum in terms of control."
"I think as time goes on, more law and order will be established. Ideally that goes by way of the Iraqi populations taking care of themselves," he said.
Early Wednesday, shortly after midnight, a sudden flash of light illuminated the sky over Baghdad, accompanied by a loud clap heard in the background. The disturbance, however, was not a continuation of the nearly three straight weeks of Baghdad under attack: It was a thunderstorm.
Thick black smoke rose from several areas, but more and more of the fires started by the Iraqis to cloak targets in the city have fizzled out in the past few days, possibly because the fuel has run out and the Iraqis are not able to reach them to replenish the fuel.
Marines holding American flags had their pictures taken with the ever-present portraits of Saddam.
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EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated Press writers Chris Tomlinson with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and Alexandra Zavis with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing also contributed to this report.
© 2003 The Associated Press
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