Dancing in the Streets of Baghdad. Who would have imagined.
<font size=18>Baghdad's Saddam City cheers end of 'tyrant'
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U.S. senior officer: Most Iraqi troops in capital have given up
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) --As residents on the outskirts of Baghdad took to the streets in celebration, the center of the Iraqi capital was relatively quiet Wednesday, a sharp contrast to previous days.
Some residents hoping to return to their daily routines in the capital appeared to be lying low, amid uncertainty about whether pro-Saddam Hussein militias might be preparing more attacks.
But in the Baghdad suburb of Saddam City, residents were in the streets, celebrating the apparent end of the Iraqi regime. A Shiite Muslim leader told a group of 400 to 500 people, "The tyrant of the world is finished, thanks to the coalition. Thank God for Iraq the victorious."
International media showed video of looting in and around Baghdad on Wednesday. Dozens were seen hauling off furniture, fixtures and office supplies, using wheelbarrows and pickups -- with no security forces to stop them. Others ripped down posters of Saddam and destroyed them -- kicking, punching and spitting on the pictures.
Residents in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil spilled out onto the streets as well in passionate but less-raucous demonstrations, waving flags, tossing confetti and chanting. One person could be seen holding a handwritten sign that said, "Bye Bye Saddam," in English.
U.S. Central Command said the demonstrations were a welcome sign but stressed that the war was not over in Iraq.
"I would hazard that there are some fierce days of fighting ahead," U.S. Central Command spokesman Frank Thorp said. "There are still some cities in the north that we have not gotten to."
At a briefing Wednesday at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said coalition officials were somewhat concerned about the unrest but said they believe it will "settle down in due time."
"I think in this case we're seeing a lot of jubilation and people who have long been oppressed for years and years having choices. We believe that this will settle down in due time," he said.
Saddam's fate remains a mystery after Monday's B-1 bomber strike on a Baghdad building where U.S. officials suspected he was meeting with senior aides, but coalition officials said that there were signs that his regime was losing control of the country, even before Wednesday's demonstrations. (Full story)
A senior U.S. Army officer said Wednesday that "the majority of Iraqi forces [in the Baghdad area] have now given up."
CNN's Walter Rodgers, with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry of the 3rd Infantry Division, said the Army officer spoke of fleeing Iraqi troops who have littered the landscape with abandoned military equipment.
Among the gear left behind were Russian-made T-72 tanks in nearly pristine condition, uniforms and gas masks.
The 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, occupied the heart of the capital, and elements of the 101st Airborne Division approached from the south. Rodgers said another brigade, which he could not name, was preparing to move into the city. (Full story)
Pentagon officials said U.S. forces in Baghdad were moving "at will" and described the Iraqi capital as increasingly isolated.
At a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Saddam's Republican Guard units either were ignoring orders or were incapable of carrying them out.
But he said clashes with elements of the Special Republican Guard have resulted in "fierce fights" and "significant engagements" from which U.S. forces have emerged "successful." (More on battles)
The U.S.-led assault has left Iraq with 19 tanks out of its fleet of 800, another senior U.S. official said.
The U.S. Army also has airlifted more armor into a coalition-controlled air base in northern Iraq early Wednesday, preparing for a push south along the northern front.
Tanks, armored personnel carriers and Bradley fighting vehicles were moved from a base in Germany to Harir airfield, near the city of Erbil, where the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade is deployed, reported CNN Correspondent Steve Nettleton, embedded in the area.
Other developments
• Military officials plan to conduct DNA tests on blood stains found on U.S. camouflage uniforms that were discovered at a military prison on the southwestern edge of Baghdad, Pentagon officials said. Two of the uniforms bore the names of two American service members known to be Iraqi prisoners of war, military sources said, but they would not divulge the names. The Marines, who captured the prison, did not find any American POWs.
• U.S. officials said a team of CIA and defense intelligence analysts is preparing to enter Iraq to investigate the fate of Capt. Scott Speicher, a Navy pilot shot down on the first day of the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. (Full story)
• The United States plans to host a conference of Iraqi opposition leaders to discuss the creation of an interim Iraqi authority to replace Saddam. The participants will include members of the Iraqi opposition "from both inside and outside the country," one Bush administration official said, adding that Bush's envoy to the Iraqi opposition, Zalmay Khalilzhad, probably would represent the United States. The meeting is tentatively set for April 15 in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya, U.S. officials said. (Full story)
• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will travel to Athens, Greece, on April 16 and 17 to discuss the role of the United Nations in Iraq with European Union leaders.
• Coalition forces are searching for two U.S. Air Force crew members missing after their F-15E Strike Eagle plane went down Sunday in the vicinity of Tikrit, which is still hostile territory, military officials said. (Full story)
• Japan will contribute up to $100 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Iraq and neighboring countries, its Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday. This decision is in response to an appeal from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The aid includes money for food, medical assistance and restoration of water supply facilities.
CNN Correspondents Jill Dougherty, Art Harris, Tom Mintier, Diana Muriel, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE:This report was written in accordance with Pentagon ground rules allowing so-called embedded reporting, in which journalists join deployed troops. Among the rules accepted by all participating news organizations is an agreement not to disclose sensitive operational details.
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