IRAQ: UNITED STATES FORCES CONTINUE PATROLLING STREETS OF TIKRIT FOLLOWING CAPTURE OF OUSTED PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN

Record ID: 337941

  • Title: IRAQ: UNITED STATES FORCES CONTINUE PATROLLING STREETS OF TIKRIT FOLLOWING CAPTURE OF OUSTED PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN
  • Date: 16th December 2003
  • Summary: (W8) AL-AWJA, NEAR TIKRIT, IRAQ (DECEMBER 15, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. SLV U.S. SOLDIERS PATROLLING DOWN STREET; SOLDIERS SEARCHING BOXES; SLV U.S. SOLDIERS SPRAYING GRAFFITI OF A RISING SUN ON WALL (5 SHOTS) 0.26 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERGEANT JOSEPH TORRES 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION 122 BATTALION SAYING "They (locals) have been coming through the gate and saying 'congratulations, you caught Saddam, you did a great job', others have been coming through saying 'that's not really him'". 0.37 3. MV SOLDIERS SPRAYING THE PHRASE "A NEW DAY FOR IRAQ" UNDER RISING SUN 0.43 4. SOUNDBITE LIEUTENANT-COLONEL STEVE RUSSELL COMMANDER 122BATTALION SAYING "It seems like a very sombre mood in Tikrit and al-Awja. Some are very happy, some are not but almost no one is on the streets up until curfew." 0.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-AWJA, NEAR TIKRIT, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1XUBWQ4Z68GX6QSDMVPVNTMT
  • Story Text: U.S. forces continue patrolling the streets of
    Saddam's home town of Tikrit following the capture of
    Iraq's former leader.

    Long live Saddam, read the defiant graffiti in
    Arabic on a wall in Saddam's home town of Tikrit in
    northern Iraq; "in jail", added the U.S. army translator
    with his own spray can.

    Graffiti was the only resistance facing U.S. soldiers
    of the Fourth Infantry Division (4ID) as they returned to
    their regular street patrols in the unusually quiet streets
    late on Sunday (December 14).

    "Some are very happy, some are not, but almost no one
    is on the streets up until curfew," Lieutenant-Colonel
    Steve Russell said.

    Occupation forces have been told to brace themselves
    for retaliation from locals loyal to the former president
    who was discovered hiding in a hole on a farm just 15 km
    (nine miles) from town on Saturday.

    But both Tikrit and al-Awja, the nearby village where
    Saddam was born, were quieter than usual following the
    day's momentous events when Saddam's capture was announced
    to the world.

    Television footage of a bearded Saddam in U.S. custody
    gave a morale boost to the soldiers stationed at the
    sprawling complex of presidential palaces in Tikrit which
    serve as 4ID headquarters.

    At a checkpoint outside al-Awja, which the U.S. army
    has sealed off but for one entry point, Sergeant Joseph
    Torres said the locals had showed a mixed reaction to the
    news.

    "They have been coming through the gate and saying
    'congratulations, you caught Saddam, you did a great job',
    others have been coming through saying 'that's not really
    him'," he said.

    Officials say DNA tests prove they have captured the
    real Saddam, and not one of his many doubles.

    On the streets of Tikrit, some of the threats to the
    occupying forces were sprayed on the walls in broken
    English.

    "We will kill ever soliders from USA," read one line,
    swiftly sprayed out by 1-22 battalion's commanding officer
    Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell. For good measure, he
    added a picture of a chicken having its head blown off by a
    pistol.

    On a picture of Saddam painted on one wall, he added
    horns, a tail and a devil's fork.

    "We have long fought the graffiti war in Tikrit. We saw
    a little bit tonight and took care of it," Russell said.

    "We don't allow anyone to win at any level," he added.

    "Whether it be graffiti or all the way to the top."

  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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