Looters target symbols of regime

LOOTERS in Baghdad set their sights yesterday on the symbols of Saddam Hussein’s dying regime, swarming a palace overlooking the Tigris River to nab bone china with the Iraqi eagle insignia, fancy wash basins and bath tubs — even fish from the garden pond.

Elsewhere in the city, however, the convulsions of anarchy appeared to be petering out. People felt secure enough to leave their homes and drive around, causing the late morning traffic jams usually so common in the capital. Buses started running in the centre of town.

Storming the Al-Salam Presidential Palace on the river's western bank, the looters marvelled bitterly at Saddam's life of luxury as they passed shards of crystal from chandeliers and shattered mirrors.

"That's how our pharaoh lived," said one man, who would not give his name.

"Look how he lived when we couldn't even get bread," said another man.

Sporadic bursts of gunfire could be heard on the palace grounds. The looters, including women in black chadors and young children, hauled away statuary from the manicured lawns and stripped white marble off the walls. Some tried to carry away huge gilded doors.

They tossed hand grenades in the ponds and walked away with nylon bags full of the dead fish that had floated to the surface.

Baghdad has been engulfed in a frenzy of looting since US troops took control of the city last Wednesday. Presidential palaces, government ministries and the Iraq National Museum the repository of the nation's cultural heritage have been stripped bare.

American forces spread out over a city of 4.8 million have largely stood by and allowed the thievery, causing resentment among a populace increasingly inclined to see the invading army as an oppressor, not a liberator.

Yesterday, however, US Army troops guarded banks and hospitals. Children ventured out to play soccer. Shops began to open and street vendors hawked vegetables loaded onto donkey carts.

A dirty, haggard and unshaven Iraqi soldier surrendered to US Marines guarding the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad.

The soldier, in a green uniform too big for him, emerged from a jostling crowd, kissed the feet of a Marine and lay down to be searched.

Hundreds of cars loaded with personal belongings were entering Baghdad from the city's western approaches, an indication that people who fled the fighting were coming home.