Chaos in Baghdad
2003-04-09 13:49
Baghdad - The government of Saddam Hussein appears to be disintegrating in Baghdad, with US troops expanding their control and looting breaking out in the eastern part of the city.
Jubilant Iraqis have greeted arriving marines in the Shia stronghold of Saddam City, the BBC's reports.
United Nations offices have been ransacked and the Olympic Committee building - headquarters of Saddam Hussein's elder son Uday - set on fire.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspended on Wednesday its activities in Baghdad because of the dangerous situation in the Iraqi capital, a spokesperson said as an ICRC staffer was reported missing.
"The precarious and dangerous situation and the chaos which reigns in Baghdad obliges the ICRC, with regret, to suspend its activities temporarily in the city," Moin Kassis said.
"We regret we cannot give help to those who need it in these circumstances."
Television pictures showed people kicking images of Saddam Hussein and carrying off everything from elaborate vases to office furniture.
There was no sign of the police or army as drivers ignored traffic signals and people looted government buildings and research institutes.
Other areas of the city seemed completely deserted, television pictures showed.
US President George W Bush was heartened by "very good" progress in Iraq, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, but he cautioned the war was not over.
"The president continues to get good reports from the field from the military point of view," the official said. "He is heartened by the progress we're making .... As well as things have gone, this is still a military mission and therefore lives are still at stake, but obviously the progress has been very good."
The British government said that Iraqi "command and control" of Baghdad appeared to be collapsing.
"The most compelling evidence...of the fast moving situation is the view that the command and control in Baghdad appears to have disintegrated," Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesperson told reporters. -News24-AFP