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Posted on 04/13/2003 8:00:08 AM PDT by kattracks
In packed vehicles, Iraqis return home to Baghdad
By Edmund Blair
BAGHDAD, April 13 (Reuters) - Piled into trucks, clinging to the back of old pick-ups and crushed into rickety saloon cars, thousands of Iraqis returned home to Baghdad on Sunday after fleeing the war to towns outside the city.
They had escaped in fear as U.S.-led forces bombed the city when Saddam Hussein still had an iron grip.
They returned with smiles and flicking victory V-signs. One man shouted "Down, down, Saddam" from his precarious seat on top of bags and blankets on the back of truck carrying more than 20 other adults and children.
Traffic tailed back for several kilometres (miles) at an eastern entrance to the Iraqi capital. Many had sought refuge in towns near the Iranian border, staying with friends, family or even with welcoming strangers.
"We fled the American bombing. We were scared," said a grinning Umm Adnan as she returned with two others crammed into the front seat of a white pick-up. Another family member lay on their belongings piled high on the back.
The 50-year-old had fled to Baaqouba, northeast of Baghdad, to escape the fierce bombardment that rained down on the capital. Many had also feared Saddam Hussein could order the use of chemical weapons, which the United States accused Iraq of possessing. Iraq consistently denied it possessed any.
FEAR OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS
"He could have used chemical weapons, that is why the families left. He is a criminal," said Mohammed Ali Hussein as he fingered an old pre-war Iraqi newspaper that was littering a destroyed military checkpoint at the junction into the city.
The headline above a picture of his former leader promised fierce resistance by the Iraqi army. It never materialised.
But when Baghdad fell, looters stormed through the city. Some returnees feared their homes may have been ransacked, although relative calm had returned on Sunday.
"Thanks be to God, our home is fine," said 36-year-old Adil, who was on his second trip to bring the rest of his family home. Even on the second journey, the car was full to bursting with six adults, four infants and luggage on the roof.
It was an emotional homecoming for 42-year-old Daoud Kashash Hussein, a medical assistant at a private hospital, as he pulled up outside his small home in a minibus carrying his family of five and 10 members of a neighbouring family.
"I am so happy," he said as he hugged his teary 70-year-old father, who had stayed in Baghdad saying he would rather die at home. Asked if he had been scared during the bombing, his father said: "War is war. At least now we don't have a tyrant over us."
04/13/03 10:41 ET
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