NAJAF, Iraq - The crowd erupted when the statue fell in the center of Saddam Circle.
Women cried. Men shouted. Citizens who lived in nearby homes brought coffee and homemade bread out to the American soldiers.
"They are confident now. People are comfortable again. The rebellion is on," said Spc. Ryan Muller, clearly in awe of what was happening in front of him.
Thursday's scene in the heart of Najaf - the historic and holy Shiite city in central Iraq that has gradually fallen under control of elements of the 101st Airborne Division for several days now - was exactly what coalition forces have been hoping for in Iraq: Townspeople launched the beginnings of an uprising against Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime.
They are denouncing members of their own community who have supported the Iraqi president and demonstrating that a new, local militia - supported by the U.S. Army - would now be the reigning power structure in Najaf. Even a semblance of normal life was beginning to return to the town.
"I believe this is the first town where you have had anything on this scale," said Lt. Col. Marcus DeOlivera, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 327th Infantry Regiment. "It is really something to see."
To be sure, the day of celebration and anti-Saddam protest was facilitated in large part by the U.S. Army. Across Iraq, U.S. and British forces are still battling resistance in cities from Baghdad to Basra.
Yet in Najaf, just 24 hours after a company of DeOlivera's soldiers marched through the center of town in a show of force meant to illustrate to townspeople that the U.S. had no intention of pulling out of central Iraq the way it did from the south days after the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, military engineers wired the statue of Saddam with a pile of C-4 explosives.
Then, to demonstrate support of the new local militia - whose armed members stood next to American soldiers wearing green armbands identifying them as the Muarada, or rebels in Arabic - a member of the militia was called forward to trip the fuse.
The statue of Saddam, mounted on a horse, fell with a thud as the horse's legs exploded beneath it. The crowd surged forward. People trampled the statue, spitting on its face and kicking it.
"I love you, America!" a 25-year-old university student named Ziman yelled. "I love you!"
But the day in Najaf was not all picture perfect for U.S. troops who are careful not to use the word "liberate," but who clearly see their role in Najaf to be along those lines.
At first light, when troops went to the center of town to distribute stockpiles of blankets, rice, beans and clothing they had discovered in Baathist headquarters and military compounds during the previous several days of storming and occupying sections of the city, the crowds accepted the goods but angrily pressed for answers about when electricity would be restored and when water mains destroyed by American bombs might be repaired.
A convoy of vehicles - for the second day in a row - was fired on by a sniper from a rooftop. No one was injured.
But the most tense moment of the day came near the gold-domed Mosque of Ali, where Col. Christopher P.Hughes, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 327th Infantry Regiment, had been invited to speak with the mosque's imam. However, the imam apparently hadn't warned townspeople that Hughes was coming, and when the colonel arrived with an entourage of soldiers it created a small riot among a crowd of Shiite Muslims who consider the mosque one of their holiest sites in the world.
There were reports that Fedayeen Saddam militants had told the crowd the U.S. forces were coming to destroy the mosque.
"The people were pretty riled up," DeOlivera said. "The colonel left without speaking to the imam and will probably arrange to do that at another time."
Military officers said Najaf's chief Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had issued an edict instructing the local Shiite population not to interfere with the invading troops.
The mosque, a stately, signature structure visible from virtually everywhere in Najaf, sits atop the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali ibn Abu Talib, who is considered the martyr of the Shiite faith and whose murder some 15 centuries ago helped cement the schism between the Shiite and Sunni sects of Islam that continues. Najaf is almost entirely Shiite, while Saddam Hussein's regime is Sunni.
The 101st Airborne had gone out of its way to avoid the mosque, keeping it on a no-bomb list even when reports surfaced that Iraqi fighters were hiding inside. However, the Americans clearly underestimated the offense that devout Muslims would take at non-Muslims carrying guns near their holy site.
"I'd like to do something to show my respect to that mosque," DeOlivera said. "But if the best way I can do that is to stay away from it, that's what I'll do."
A number of pro-Hussein fighters were still thought to be shuttered inside the mosque Thursday. Local clerics were said to be trying to negotiate a deal to get the Iraqis out of the mosque and give them safe passage out of the city.
All of the activity in Najaf on Thursday marked a turning point for the U.S. Army in how its soldiers would interact with the people of the city. Previously anyone with a weapon was considered a combatant who could be shot if a soldier deemed that person a threat or risk. But the local militia, who have vowed their support of coalition's goals to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein, are now carrying AK-47s out in the open, and all the rules of engagement have changed.
"Now that people are in the midst of a revolt, not everyone carrying a gun is a bad guy," said Maj. Blain Reeves, the executive officer of the 1st Battalion of the 327th Infantry Regiment. "Now is when things get tricky."
On Thursday, Najaf was beginning to look like another city. Restaurants, closed since the U.S. troops had reached the city's borders more than a week ago, reopened. Families strolled along streets. Children rode bicycles. Shopkeepers washed the sidewalks in front of their storefronts.
"You can kind of see the life coming back," DeOlivera said.
American soldiers moved throughout the city, conducting what they called "present patrols." They searched buildings suspected to be hiding places for weapons. They searched the homes of people who still hung the Baath Party flag outside. They drove through sections of town in a caravan, largely to see if snipers would reveal themselves and engage the soldiers in fighting.
"We're trying to draw the last of them out," Col. Ben Hodges, commander of the 101st Airborne's 1st Brigade, said.
Hodges - a man with a reputation among troops for being something of a cowboy, always at the center of every firefight, smoking a cigar as though he isn't worried at all _ remained hopeful that the citizens of Najaf would play a large role in rooting out the remaining Hussein loyalists. He has said for several days that he hoped the local Shiites would "drag out the bad guys and stone them in the streets."
Although nothing to that degree was happening in Najaf on Thursday, local people were increasingly forthcoming with troops. A number asked to speak with the battalion's interpreter after the statue destruction to offer up names and addresses of people who might be stockpiling weapons to use against U.S. troops. Several handed notes with information to soldiers.
The battalion's interpreter, 28-year-old Kuwaiti Ahmed Al-Shammari, was clearly moved by the citizens he met in Saddam Circle. A Shiite Muslim himself, Al-Shammari related to the people of Najaf both in faith and in disdain for the Iraqi president who 13 years ago ordered the invasion and annexation of his home country.
Moments before the distribution of the food and blankets to townspeople on Thursday morning, Al-Shammari delivered an impassioned speech about what was about to happen.
"The regime of Saddam Hussein took things like this away from you," he said. "We now are giving it back."
An Iraqi woman smiled at the young man, walked up to him and handed him a slice of still-warm bread.
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune.
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