BAGHDAD, Iraq April 10 —
Looting surged and government buildings were set on fire across
Baghdad on Thursday while U.S. troops concentrated more on fighting
pockets of resistance than on keeping order.
Tens of thousands of people young and old, men and women roamed
the city in the second round of looting to hit Baghdad since the
fall of Saddam Hussein on Wednesday, with American forces making
little or no effort to stop them as they carried off TV sets,
refrigerators, carpets and other plunder.
Many of the looters moved into the city center from the poor
outlying districts with wheelbarrows and pushcarts, intent on
getting their share of the booty.
Some U.S. forces received word Thursday that they should begin
trying to stop the looting, but they were only just beginning to
devise ways to do so.
"There's civilian looting like crazy, all over the place. There
just aren't enough of us to clear it out," said Marine Lance Cpl.
Darren Pickard, 20, Merced, Calif., who was trying to protect an
Iraqi police academy compound that was being picked over by
looters.
Reinforcements had to be called in to help protect the compound's
armory, which included hundreds of rifles along with grenades,
knives, pistols and mortars.
At U.S. Central Command, Maj. Gen. Gene Renuart said that the
Iraqis' anger toward symbols of the regime is not surprising, after
years of oppression. He said the U.S. military's civil affairs teams
will work with neighborhood leaders to try to restore calm while the
Iraqis rebuild their police force.
He said curfews are possible, but "our intent is not to be
heavy-handed, but it is to ensure that stability is brought back to
the areas." He said the military hopes to establish "compassionate
relationships with members of the community."
Meanwhile, smoke billowed from buildings across the city. Marines
said Iraqi holdouts were setting fire to their own quarters and
blaming the Americans. In at least one case, however, looters were
seen setting fire to some buildings in the Interior Ministry
complex.
U.S. troops occupied the Oil Ministry. But the nine-story
Ministry of Transport building was gutted by fire, as was the Iraqi
Olympic headquarters, while the Ministry of Education was partially
burned. Near the Interior Ministry, the office building of Saddam's
son Odai stood damaged, its upper floors blackened.
A building on fire near the Interior Ministry was rocked by
deafening explosions apparently caused by ammunition and rockets
stashed inside. The blasts went on for more than 15 minutes. No
immediate injuries were reported.
In and around the capital, skirmishes flared between U.S. forces
and Iraqi holdouts, and bursts of gunfire and explosions continued
to echo through the city nearly a day after the people of Baghdad
danced in the streets over the fall of Saddam.
Marines seized a palace on the northern outskirts of the capital
early Thursday in a fierce, seven-hour battle that demonstrated all
too clearly that the fighting is far from over in Iraq. One Marine
was killed and as many as 20 were wounded.
Marines also battled holdout fighters at a Baghdad mosque and the
house of a leader of Saddam's Baath Party.
Marines set up checkpoints at the heart of the city, conducting
thorough searches of all vehicles and body searches of passengers
and drivers. Some Marines crouched behind sandbags, weapons at the
ready, as the searches were conducted.
Around the city, looters hit stores and government installations,
including the Irrigation Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Air
Force officers club, the government computer center, the Olympic
hospital and state laboratories.
The German Embassy, a three-story off-white building in the
center of al-Karada district, was also sacked. Looters emerged with
air conditioners and computers. Looters also cleaned out the French
Cultural Center and Odai's house, the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera
reported.
In the city center, donkey-drawn and horse-drawn carts were seen
loaded with office furniture, TV sets, appliances and carpets.
In Saddam City, a poor, densely populated Shiite Muslim section
of Baghdad, residents set up roadblocks and confiscated looted
items, sending them to a mosque, said Imam Amar Al-Saadi.
On Wednesday, after looting first broke out in Baghdad, U.S.
Central Command said American civil affairs troops were there and in
other cities to help Iraqis move away from lawlessness and
re-establish order.
However, Central Command spokesman Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said
he expected much of the unrest to die down on its own as the
euphoria over the regime's collapse wore off. "We believe that this
will settle down in due time," he said.
Around the city, most motorists were flying white flags. Some
public buses were even running.
The Interior Ministry offices were being turned into a command
center for U.S. forces, who went through them to see what they
find.
Saddam pictures, posters, calendars and oil paintings adorned
practically every surface. Some pictures of his face had been cut
out or punched in with fists before U.S. forces got there. Some
Marines, encountering large pictures of Saddam with his face cut
out, posed for pictures with their own faces thrust through the
hole.
Two floors down from the Interior Minister's office was the
office of an unidentified three-star general. On the bookshelf
behind his desk sat a gold-embossed, green-leather volume dating to
the 1990s. It resembled a family photo album, but the pictures page
after page were of bombed-out buildings and charred, mangled
corpses.
On Wednesday, in a scene that called to mind the fall of the
Soviet Union in 1991, the Marines used a winch to pull down a
40-foot bronze statue of Saddam and break it in half. Iraqis
attacked the statue with sledgehammers and sticks, danced on its
fallen chest and face, and threw garbage on it.
Others dragged the torn-off head through the streets, while
children beat it with shoes and slippers a grave insult in the Arab
world.
Iraqis and Marines hugged, high-fived or shook hands. Some of the
Marines held their rifles aloft in a victorious pose.
"Now my son can have a chance in life," said Bushra Abed,
pointing to her 2-year-old son, Ibrahim.
EDITOR'S NOTE Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman and Alexandra
Zavis with the Marines in Baghdad also contributed to this
report.
photo credit
and caption:
Iraqis show their new
possessions as hundreds went on looting government buildings
in Baghdad Wednesday April 9, 2003. At police stations,
government ministries, the headquarters of the Iraq Olympic
Committee, looters unhindered by any police presence made off
with computers, furniture, telephones, even military jeeps.
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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