Sensing Hussein's Rule Is Nearing End, Jubilant Iraqis Swarm Streets Of Baghdad
(peaceniks despair?)
nytimes.com
By DEXTER FILKINS with JANE PERLEZ
BAGHDAD, April 9 — Residents swarmed out onto the streets today, suddenly sensing that the regime of Saddam Hussein was crumbling, and celebrating the arrival of United States forces.
Throngs of men milled about, looting, blaring horns, dancing and tearing up pictures of Saddam Hussein. Baath party offices were trashed.
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Occasional sniper fire continued, but Iraqi resistance largely faded away. The American military hesitated to say the war was over, warning instead that more fighting could break out, both inside and outside Baghdad.
But the streets here were full of activity, after days of fearsome warfare.
The American military emptied jails overnight, releasing their prisoners.
In the neighborhood called Saddam City, a densely populated Shiite area, crowds of men shouted and waved their arms in jubilation. Some carried makeshift flags.
One middle aged man held up a huge portrait of Saddam Hussein, and in the middle of the street beat the face of the Iraqi leader with his shoe, a particular insult. "This man has killed two million of us,'' he yelled as bystanders milled around approvingly. |
