- TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) -
U.S. Marines backed by tanks stormed into the heart of Saddam Hussein's
final stronghold on Monday, seizing control of his hometown Tikrit in possibly
the last major military assault of the war.
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- Attack helicopters swooped low over one district, firing
heavy machineguns to blast out lingering clusters of do-or-die defenders,
while Marine patrols combed a sprawling presidential palace in search of
senior supporters of the ousted government.
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- U.S. commanders said the fall of Tikrit brought the 26-day
military campaign in Iraq to a "transition point."
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- U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters at war
headquarters in Qatar that there was still potential for fighting, but
that it would not be an "organized regime effort."
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- As the main thrust of the war effort eased, Washington
upped the pressure on Iraq's neighbor Syria, saying Damascus may be harbouring
top Saddam loyalists and chemical weapons.
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- In Baghdad, more than 2,000 Iraqi policemen reported
back for work in a move that U.S. authorities hope will help stop the orgy
of looting that followed the dramatic collapse of Saddam's 24-year iron-fisted
rule last week.
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- Marines charged into Tikrit, 110 miles north of Baghdad,
at dawn on Monday after a fierce overnight aerial bombardment that targeted
remnants of the Republican Guard.
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- There was no sign of the jubilation seen when other Iraqi
cities fell. A statue of a resplendent Saddam on horseback stood unscathed
and pristine pictures of him adorned lampposts.
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- However, some locals flashed thumbs-up signs and said
they were glad that fighting appeared over.
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- "It's a huge relief, we think of ourselves as peaceful
people who got stuck with a dictator. Hopefully we'll get a leader who
respects people and let's them be in peace," said 58-year old Hussein
al-Khalidi.
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- BAGHDAD PROTEST
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- Normality appeared to be slowly returning to Baghdad,
battered by two weeks of air raids followed by four days of near anarchy,
with some kiosks and food stores opening and traffic jams once again starting
to clog the streets.
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- But the occasional crackle of gunfire could be heard
in the distance, and, with water and power supplies still cut, a few hundred
Iraqis demonstrated to complain about the lack of security and public services.
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- "Islamic state! Islamic state! Not American, not
American!" dozens of protesters chanted.
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- U.S. officials tried to hasten the return of Iraqi security
forces across the capital, organising a meeting of hundreds of police.
In often stormy exchanges, some former Iraqi officers hurled abuse at Saddam
and others attacked his statue with hammers and metal bars.
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- "We never intended to be an occupying force,"
said Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Stafford, who is liaising with the police
to restore order. "Our main concern is the defense of life and that
is to be followed by the defense of property," he said.
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- In the central city of Najaf, tribal leaders halted a
siege by armed men of the home of Shi'ite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani
and took control of the spiritual center where two clerics were hacked
to death last week.
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- "The siege has ended," said Mohammad Baqir
Mohri, an aide to Sistani whose home in the city had been surrounded on
Saturday by groups demanding he leave Iraq. Sistani's whereabouts were
unknown but relatives said that he was safe.
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- MEETING PLANNED
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- The standoff highlighted the strife within Iraq and indicated
how difficult it could be to cement national unity.
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- Shi'ite Muslims make up 60 percent of Iraq's population
of around 26 million and were persecuted for decades by Saddam's secular
Sunni-dominated Baath Party.
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- Plans for a U.S.-led administration of postwar Iraq face
an early test on Tuesday when U.S. officials meet skeptical Iraqi factions
in the southern city of Nassiriya.
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- The gathering will be overseen by Jay Garner, a retired
U.S. general who received plaudits for running a mission to assist Kurds
in northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
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- "Nassiriya will be the first meeting of the Iraqis
and is a test case," said Nathan Jones, spokesman for Garner's office.
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- As Marines consolidated their position in Tikrit, U.S.
officials said Saddam's half brother, Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti,
had been captured near the Syrian border.
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- Watban was on a U.S. most-wanted list of 55 people. Saddam
removed him as interior minister in 1995 but he remained an adviser. Saddam's
fate is still unclear. Some believe he may be in Tikrit or has fled abroad,
others that he might be dead.
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- DNA READY AND WAITING
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- U.S. war commander Gen. Tommy Franks said American forces
had DNA genetic material which could be used to identify Saddam and check
whether repeated attempts to kill him had succeeded.
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- Finding Saddam is a top priority for the U.S. military,
still smarting from their failure to locate Taliban chief Mullah Omar and
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
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- "They definitely want to get him. Losing Mullah
Omar was absent-minded, losing Osama bin Laden was stupid. If you lose
Saddam Hussein as well, you're beginning to look like a bunch of clowns,"
said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert in Britain.
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- With Saddam apparently still at large, President Bush
and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld jacked up the pressure on Syria,
accusing Damascus of providing sanctuary to leading members of Saddam's
entourage and suggesting it had chemical weapons -- the ostensible reason
for invading Iraq.
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- Syria has rejected previous accusations that it had provided
military assistance to the Iraqis.
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- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw stressed that while
doubts remained about Syria's weapons programs, there were no plans to
extend the war to Iraq's eastern neighbor.
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- "There are important questions which the Syrians
need to answer. As far as 'Syria next on the list', we made clear that
it is not," said Straw, who is on a tour of Gulf states that take
him to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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