U.S. Marines march on Tikrit; Iraqi cities calmer
U.S. Marines march on Tikrit; Iraqi cities calmer
Agencies, Baghdad
U.S. Marines dashed north on Sunday towards the northern town of
Tikrit, the birthplace of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
and the last major prize yet to fall to the invading forces.
Television pictures suggested that dug-in defenses on the
approaches to Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, had
been abandoned. However, armed men still guarded the town itself
and a CNN crew had to flee the place after coming under fire.
Baghdad and other Iraqi cities under U.S. control returned to
a degree of normality after days of anarchy and looting but
religious tensions appeared close to boiling point in the central
holy city of Najaf.
U.S. Central Command in Qatar said significant elements of the
1st Marine Expeditionary Force had left Baghdad and made swift
progress up the road to Saddam's hometown.
"Marines are operating in the vicinity of Tikrit," spokesman
Capt. Stewart Upton told Reuters, indicating that they were less
than 50 km south of the town.
"The order was to attack and destroy regime forces," he said,
adding that there were no reports of negotiations for a surrender
of the dusty town.
As U.S. troops on Sunday pushed toward Saddam's traditional
stronghold of Tikrit, armed civilians said they were ready to
conditionally surrender to coalition forces.
Some military officials have speculated that Saddam and his
closest advisers might be holed up in Tikrit. Others believe he
might have being seriously wounded or died in a air raid on
Baghdad last week.
After more than three weeks of fighting, U.S.-led forces have
arrested just one senior Iraqi official -- Saddam's top
scientific adviser, Gen. Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi, who handed
himself in to the new military authorities on Saturday.
U.S. intelligence officials believe he could be the key to
unlocking secrets about Iraq's weapons programs. But Saadi
insisted Iraq had no banned chemical or biological arms -- the
ostensible reason for Washington and London to attack Iraq.
The media have speculated that senior Iraqi figures might have
escaped to neighboring Syria. Washington warned Damascus not to
become a haven for Saddam supporters or for "terrorists".
In the capital Baghdad, to the south of Tikrit, a U.S.
military commander said six U.S. soldiers believed to have been
prisoners of war had been rescued from Iraqi forces.
Anxious to restore calm to Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqi police
and civil servants responded to U.S. calls to meet in the city
center on Sunday and discuss returning to service.
"We want to help the people, not Saddam Hussein," said police
Lt. Abdel Wahed Issa Ahmed.
"The first thing we need to do is disarm people. You would not
believe how many weapons are around."
Thousands of people who had fled the fighting returned to the
Iraqi capital from the east on Sunday, carrying furniture and
bulging suitcases on the roofs of their cars.