U.S. declares end to combat in Iraq
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By Jonathan S. Landay, Sara Olkon and Martin Merzer
Knight Ridder News Service
TIKRIT, Iraq — The Pentagon declared the end of significant fighting in Iraq yesterday as Marines stormed the heart of Tikrit, suppressed hard-core resistance there and captured the last stronghold of Saddam Hussein.
Associated Press
"The major combat operations are over," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said after more than 3,000 Marines fought their way to the center of Saddam's ancestral hometown.
Members of the U.S. Marine Reserve's 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines out of Los Alamitos, Calif., yesterday celebrated the fall of Tikrit. The city is Saddam Hussein's hometown, but the Marines faced little resistance at the end.
In Washington, the Bush administration's attention already was shifting to two post-war concerns.
The White House and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld turned up the pressure on Syria, demanding that it stop harboring Iraqi fugitives and renounce terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, even as British Prime Minister Tony Blair denied any U.S.-British plans to invade Syria.
U.S. officials also looked forward to a meeting today in Nasiriyah, where they hoped to begin forging an interim government for a post-Saddam Iraq by welding together rival ethnic, religious and exile factions.
The military action, however, focused on the Marines' success in securing Tikrit.
They seized an opulent presidential palace and rolled their armored vehicles along the city's broad boulevards. They watched white flags flutter from taxicabs, cement homes and mud huts. They accepted roses from a few grateful residents — and stayed alert for suicide attacks by the remnants of pro-Saddam militias.
Tikrit was the last important center of Saddam's regime, and now it had fallen — much like Basra, Nasiriyah, Najaf, Karbala, Kut, Kirkuk, Irbil, Mosul and Baghdad.
"There is nothing beyond Tikrit," said Marine Lt. Col. Doug Hardison. "That is it. It's now just a function of when to call the win."
Iraqi forces once again evaporated and large concentrations of Iraqi troops no longer existed anywhere, McChrystal and others said, though they cautioned that small-scale battles remained likely.
Associated Press
The war began on March 20, less than four weeks ago. The U.S. military death toll reached 121, with many more wounded. Saddam's fate remained unknown. No confirmed discoveries have been made of chemical or biological weapons — the primary justification President Bush cited for resorting to war.
U.S. soldiers in Baghdad yesterday arrested a group of men, accusing them of driving a vehicle with weapons and of attempting to ambush U.S. troops who are still trying to secure control of Iraq's capital.
U.S. troops in Karbala reportedly found 11 large containers that officers said yesterday might have served as mobile chemical weapons labs. Experts prepared to examine the 20-foot-by-20-foot containers. Previous reports of possible chemical or biological weapons have not been confirmed or have turned out to be false.
At the same time, a measure of calm returned to Baghdad as 2,000 Iraqi police officers, working with U.S. Marines, patrolled the capital's streets for the first time since the city fell last week — and collapsed into chaos.
Looting diminished — but did not disappear — in Baghdad as Iraqis formed neighborhood watches. U.S. military engineers began working with Iraqis to restore water and power to the city.
Electricity also remained out in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, but hospitals and many citizens there have generators. British engineers plan to arrive within a few weeks to repair the southern city's five major power grids.
But significant danger remained — for Iraqis and Americans.
In Baghdad, as many as 17 Iraqi civilians died and scores were wounded in a huge blast accidentally detonated by children playing with Iraqi explosives. Bands of diehard fighters still roamed the city.
Also, U.S. Marines searched rooms early today in the Palestine Hotel, which serves as headquarters for most foreign journalists in Baghdad, apparently taking some people into custody, witnesses said.
A CNN producer, Linda Roth, said she opened her door to find armed Marines, who ordered her to get down while they searched the room without explanation.
"There was definitely tension," she said. "They were definitely looking for someone."
