- Title: IRAQ: RESIDENTS OF TIKRIT ACCUSE U.S. SOLDIERS OF TERRORISING THEIR TOWN.
- Date: 25th June 2003
- Summary: (U6) TIKRIT, IRAQ (JUNE 24, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV/GV: VARIOUS OF U.S. TROOPS IN STREETS (3 SHOTS) 0.19 2. GV/MV/CU: IRAQIS REPARING SHOPS WHICH WERE HIT DURING ATTACKS; INTERIOR OF DAMAGED SHOPS; DAMAGED SHOPS (7 SHOTS) 0.48 3. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SHOP OWNER MOHAMMED BAKR SAYING: "Is this liberation? Is this what they were talking abou
- Embargoed: 10th July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAJZ1U36LB7NB96J20B8NRCXAP
- Story Text: Residents of Tikrit have said that if Saddam Hussein
would return to his home town he would be welcomed by most
people.
Residents of Tikrit complained on Tuesday (June 24)
that U.S. troops are causing more chaos in the country than
restoring calm.
"Is this liberation? Is this what they were talking about.
They are the terrorists. They are doing this (damaging
property). They are creating chaos" said Mohammed Bakr, A shop
owner whose shop was damaged during fighting.
U.S. troops, working on leads from Iraqi informers and
captives, have been combing Tikrit and nearby towns for
Saddam.
Although U.S. troops have controlled Tikrit for two
months, Saddam is still regarded as a larger-than-life figure
in this grim central Iraqi town that is home to his diehard
supporters.
"We will welcome Saddam Hussein (if he came here) even in
my home. If Saddam Hussein or anyone from the former regime
came here, I would welcome them. I speak on behalf of those in
Tikrit," said Hamza Hassan form Tikrit.
Saddam disappeared after he was toppled by the U.S. and
British invasion on April 9. U.S. troops have captured 32
Iraqi officials on a wanted list of 55. But Saddam remains
elusive.
His fate came into sharp focus again when his secretary,
national security adviser and senior bodyguard, Abid Hamid
Mahmud al-Tikriti, was captured last week.
He was the most senior Iraqi fugitive arrested to date and
was seen as the one most likely to know Saddam's movements.
Some Tikritis say life was better under Saddam, despite
his torture chambers, prisons and executions.
Outside his former palace, Iraqi motorists drive by two
giant statues of Saddam on horses with missiles at their feet.
Seeking Saddam is not the only thing keeping U.S. troops
busy. Every day assailants fire guns or rocket-propelled
grenades at them. Nineteen U.S. soldiers have been killed
since major combat was declared over on May 1. Tikrit is a
hotspot.
Along the main street, small sidewalk restaurants cook
chicken and kebab in the scorching heat. Iraqi policemen
mingle with U.S. troops.
But most Iraqis want the Americans to leave.
"They (the U.S. troops) are not liberators. They are
thieves. They steel people's money. This is our money -- that
is all we own" said Shaffa Amin, another Tikrit resident.
"It is as if they came here to purposely destroy things.
They did not find any weapons or anything. So why do this?
This is inhumane," said Ayman, a property owner in the city.
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