After 35 years under the often brutal rule of the Baath Party, denizens of the sprawling metropolis on the Tigris savored a first taste of life without President Saddam Hussein.

Near Baghdad's central al-Fardus Square, until Wednesday evening the site of a towering statue of the Iraqi strongman that was finally yanked down by a US armored vehicle, a white-bearded man in his sixties carefully placed the bronze, lopped-off head of his former leader in a wheelbarrow.

A horde of photographers jostled for the shot.

"I have dreamed of this day for years," he said.

Perched on tanks and heavily armed, US Marines were deployed at major intersections where just days before black-clad militia members held sway. Motorists gradually returned to the streets.

The access to several bridges spanning the Tigris was blocked to vehicles and Iraqis hoping to cross got a military escort to the other side.

Many Baghdadis rushed to give the soldiers a warm welcome, shaking hands and taking up their concerns as best they could in English.

When would the water and power, cut off in many areas for the last week, be back on? How could they send word to relatives living abroad?

Eyeing foreign journalists' satellite telephones, banned under President Saddam Hussein, some pleaded for just a few minutes' time to reassure a brother in the Gulf or in Europe that they had survived the fearsome, three-week bombardment of the capital.

In certain areas where US control still appeared shaky, far from the city center, marines pointed their M-16s at each car that passed their checkpoints, sizing up each of the occupants.

In the commercial district of al-Karrada, long queues snaked in front of the few bakeries and shops that were open.

Chicken and beef sizzled on small grills set up on sidewalks by restaurants that had supplies cut off by the war.

In the al-Jadiriya district, a small army of looters helped themselves to printers, telephones, electric cables and television sets at a government depot, piling them into vans.

Second-hand dealers waited for them outside, offering pathetic sums in cash for their spoils.

Not far away, at the entrance to Saddam Bridge, a statue of Baghdad's former master had been shot through the heart.

Unthinkable even Tuesday, graffiti signed by the "residents of al-Zowaya district" read "Down with Saddam Hussein, symbol of shame and cowardice!" and "Down with Baath, party of heretics!"

A giant portrait of Saddam, brandishing a rifle with the al-Aqsa mosque of Jerusalem behind him, was burnt.

Just behind it, marines took up positions on the roof of the Babel Hotel.

Men in pyjamas and veiled women gathered with their families in front of modest homes to get a good look at their American liberators.

Two Marines sat on the shoulder of the road in cement sentry houses built for Iraqi police.

For the first time in weeks, the horizon was clean, clear and blue with no trace of the billowing smoke rising from bombed-out buildings or fuel-filled trenches that clogged the air in recent weeks. The city basked in glorious spring sunshine.

Saddam's state newspapers, which had since the start of the war featured screaming headlines heralding an Iraqi victory, fell silent Thursday, probably for good.

But the peace that seemed to be settling into the capital was not yet sealed.

Periodic bombing on the southern outskirts rocked the city center again in the morning while a fierce firefight near the Adhamya mosque claimed the life of one marine and five Iraqi civilians.

US combat helicopters also came to the aid of the soldiers on the ground.

SPACE.WIRE