la calda accoglienza di Bagdad

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

Al Jazeera
US troops come under fire in west Baghdad
Bands of non-Iraqi Arab fighters are reported to be putting up heavy
resistance to the US military presence in Baghdad with fierce clashes
reported in the western half of the Iraqi capital. Reuters correspondent
Khaled Yacoub Oweis saw several explosions as US planes swooped over the
Mansur district in west Baghdad. He said Arab fighters were in control of
streets in Mansur and other districts in the west of the city as well as
Aadhamiya and Waziriya in the north . They were manning checkpoints and US
troops were nowhere to be seen. US warplanes attacked  targets on Thursday
after marines came under heavy fire along the northern banks of the Tigris
river with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades, with one marine
reported killed and 13 wounded, a US officer said. US marines also entered a
mosque to search for opposition fighters. Many of western Baghdad's
residents, notably in the west, are from the majority Sunni school of Islam,
and unlike the Shia who were oppressed under Saddam Hussein's Baathist
government, have less reason to welcome US rule.
US forces were also reported to be sweeping through north-eastern districts
of the sprawling capital hunting guerrilla fighters.

After Saddam 'Nightmare' Baghdad Wants U.S. Out Soon  Thu April 10, 2003
08:04 AM ET
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
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.
"Saddam's era was a nightmare. He was the real Dracula," said Mehdi al-Aibi
Mansur.
"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.
"A just infidel ruler is better than an oppressive Muslim ruler," he added,
quoting an early Islamic Shi'ite leader.
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.
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.  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.
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.  Even
the traffic policemen abandoned their posts.
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."  "They should have had a plan to preserve
security," he said.  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.  "People are no longer afraid. Fear has
escaped. People will not be afraid to rise up against the Americans," he
said.