IRAQ: IRAQI WORKERS TAKE DOWN RAZOR WIRE THAT HAD ENCIRCLED SADDAM HUSSEIN'S BIRTH VILLAGE OF AWAJA

Record ID: 647484

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI WORKERS TAKE DOWN RAZOR WIRE THAT HAD ENCIRCLED SADDAM HUSSEIN'S BIRTH VILLAGE OF AWAJA
  • Date: 28th January 2004
  • Summary: (U6) AWJA, NEAR TIKRIT, IRAQ (JANUARY 28, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SV U.S. SOLDIERS BREAKING INTO HOUSE 0.04 2. SV US SOLDIERS WALKING UP STAIRS 0.08 3. SV/SLV/MCU OF U.S. SOLDIERS DETAINING FOUR MEN (4 SHOTS) 0.23 4. TV U.S. SOLDIERS DIGGING IN GARDEN LOOKING FOR WEAPONS 0.27 5. SV U.S. SOLDIERS WITH PAINTINGS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN FOUND IN HOUSE 0.32 6. SV OF ARRESTED LINED UP AND BLINDFOLDED OUTSIDE HOUSE (2 SHOTS) 0.39 7. SLV/SV OF IRAQI WORKERS CUTTING AND REMOVING BARBED WIRE FENCE (6 SHOTS) 1.04 8. MCU (English) LIEUTENANT COLONEL STEVEN RUSSELL SAYING "Now we have lifted those restrictions because they have been very cooperative." 1.08 9. SLV U.S. HUMVEE PARKED CLOSE TO BARBED WIRE FROM FENCE 1.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AWJA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA1RNDA908ZQLY0O60504MORYJD
  • Story Text: Razor wire fence around Saddam's village coming
    down.



    Iraqi workers on Wednesday (January 28) began taking
    down razor wire that had encircled Saddam Hussein's birth
    village of Awja for months, a sign the U.S. Army believes
    it has largely cleaned up a thicket of support for the
    former dictator.

    Since October the 4,000 residents of Awja have had to
    show U.S.-issued identity cards to pass through a
    checkpoint at a single gap in the 8.5 km (5.3 miles) of
    fence.

    But since Saddam and many of his key supporters have
    been caught or killed, the Army decided to remove the
    fence, said Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell, a senior U.S.

    commander in the the Tikrit area, 175 km (110 miles) north
    of Baghdad.

    The wire made it easier to separate innocent Iraqis
    from Saddam supporters who financed, planned and carried
    out attacks against U.S. soldiers, Russell said. But he
    said now the fence could be removed.

    "Now we have lifted those restrictions because they
    have been very cooperative," Russell told reporters.

    The dismantling will take four days. After the fence is
    gone, U.S. forces and Iraqi security will resume patrols.

    Some local residents said they were very happy to have
    the fence removed, but others expressed concern they would
    lose their security against other tribes who wanted revenge
    on Saddam's tribe for mistreatment during his reign.

    While a dozen young men gingerly coiled the wire, often
    cutting their gloved hands and clothing, workers on the
    west side of Awja salvaged lavish marble and hand-cut
    Italian brick from one of Saddam's palaces.

    The palace, on a bluff overlooking a verdant nest of
    palm and orange trees, will be destroyed after the salvage
    work was finished, the Army said.

    An Army patrol carrying out a routine drive through the
    town demonstrated how much work remains in rooting out
    insurgents in the once-prosperous village.

    Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division based in
    Tikrit, just north of Awja, spotted two men in Awja washing
    a bullet-riddled car matching the description of one used
    in two drive-by attacks this month in which soldiers were
    wounded.

    After searching the home and discovering three guns and
    dozens of photographs of Saddam, soldiers arrested five
    men.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register