- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Baghdad
residents expressed relief on Thursday at the collapse of Saddam Hussein's
24-year rule but said U.S. forces should restore order quickly and leave,
or face the wrath of an emboldened population.
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- "Saddam's era was a nightmare. He was the real Dracula,"
said Mehdi al-Aibi Mansur.
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- "Saddam killed millions of people in war and oppression,
including three of my brothers," said the Shi'ite merchant, who lost
an eye to shrapnel in the ruinous eight-year war which Saddam waged on
neighboring Iran.
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- "A just infidel ruler is better than an oppressive
Muslim ruler," he added, quoting an early Islamic Shi'ite leader.
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- But Mansur said American forces which rumbled into central
Baghdad unopposed on Wednesday, three weeks after launching their invasion
to topple Saddam, should have tackled the growing chaos in the city of
over five million people.
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- Looters ransacked offices in the Iraqi capital for a
second day after Saddam's security forces melted away, leaving U.S. forces
to fight sporadic battles across the city.
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- Flames poured out of the first floor of the Trade Ministry
on the east bank of the Tigris river as people ran off with stolen furniture
and computers.
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- Al-Arabiya television station showed pictures of Iraqis
looting what it said was the German embassy in Baghdad and the French cultural
center. People were streaming out carrying water cans, mattresses and a
plate rack.
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- Even the traffic policemen abandoned their posts.
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- Mansur, who had moved most of his goods from the teeming
Shi'ite district of Saddam City to central Baghdad to protect them from
pillage, said U.S. forces had "made a big mistake."
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- "They should have had a plan to preserve security,"
he said.
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- He also warned that if the American troops stayed too
long they would face the anger of millions of people, emboldened by Saddam's
fall after decades of repression.
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- "People are no longer afraid. Fear has escaped.
People will not be afraid to rise up against the Americans," he said.
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- WHO WILL RULE US?
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- Scenes of dozens of Iraqis trampling joyfully on a fallen
statue of Saddam were broadcast around the world on Wednesday. But that
jubilation was tinged with uncertainty a day later as people pondered their
future.
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- "I couldn't sleep last night because I was worrying
about what was going to happen to my country. Who is going to rule us,
the Americans or who?" said retired teacher Ali Suleiman.
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- Doctors returning to the Saadoun private hospital for
the first time since the start of the U.S.-led war on March 20 were bewildered
at the rapid collapse of Saddam's authority.
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- "It's very strange. He controlled the country but
he didn't defend it," said anesthetist Mumtaz al-Sayegh.
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- "We do not care who controls the streets now as
long as there is water, electricity and security," he said. "At
the moment there is no government and the looting is enormous. We are afraid
for our houses."
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- Mina Fayez, a 20-year-old second-year dental student,
said she had not slept properly since President Bush launched "Operation
Iraqi Freedom" three weeks ago, unleashing a ferocious bombardment
against Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
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- "I only want freedom. I don't care who provides
it," she said, handing lemonade to a U.S. soldier in a tank on Saadoun
Street. "A period in our history which hurt us a lot is over. I think
the coming era will be better."
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- But she echoed Mansur's wariness of the U.S. presence.
"I'm happy because of the freedom that has come with them. But even
they could bring colonization and end up hurting us," she said.
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- Dalia Hinoudi, a 24-year-old biotechnology student, said
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- "For 20 years I had no ambition. Now I think I will,"
she said. "I want a job. I want to prosper. I want to live."
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