Only 20 worshippers were able to get into the blue-domed mosque in Al-Fardus Square, the downtown plaza whose four entrances are all blocked by US tanks.

US troops had entered the square to fanfare Wednesday and helped residents demolish a towering bronze statue of Saddam. The few who made it to prayers Friday were certainly not among the crowds cheering on the US advance.

"On an ordinary Friday between 15,000 and 20,000 people come to this mosque, but today all the roads have been blocked," the muezzin, Luay Daud, told AFP.

"Is 'liberation' supposed to mean the closing of mosques?" he asked furiously.

He accused US troops of abetting the looting that has ravaged Baghdad for the past two days.

"Instead of helping the people's welfare, they plow down the gates (of administrative buildings) with their tanks and allow looting," he said.

At the entrance to the 43-year-old mosque, the shelves where worshippers deposit their shoes before prayer are practically empty.

"We don't want this liberation if we're not safe," said one worshipper.

"Under Saddam Hussein, at least we had security," said Mohammed Zaki al-Ubeidi, the son of the mosque's head cleric.

He said his father would not be coming for prayers this week because he had suffered "a cerebral embolism due to the situation."

"The Americans want everything to be destroyed so that their companies can do the reconstruction and earn money," the son charged.

He said the reason for the low attendance at the mosque was because people "are worried that their houses would get burgled" while they are out.

As soon as the muezzin's call blared from the minaret loudspeakers, the 20 worshippers formed a single row and knelt down in prayer on the red carpet. A mammoth chandelier hung from the ceiling idly, with no electricity to light it up.

Then came silence, as there was no cleric to deliver the sermon.

One of the faithful, Fayez Khalil, said he was growing fonder of Iraq's deposed leader as he saw the chaos reigning in Baghdad.

"After seeing all the looting, encouraged by the Americans, I'm beginning to like Saddam Hussein," said Khalil, a former musician turned businessman who said he had not supported Saddam's Baath party in the past.

Mohammed Saddam al-Hamayda, a tiny Jordanian with glasses resting on his nose and a patchy beard, refused to admit Saddam had fallen, even as the sound of US tanks could be heard from outside.

"As long as President Saddam is safe and sound Iraq will be free," he said.

Hamayda, who studies veterinary medicine at Baghdad University, said he owed his middle name to his father's admiration for the Iraqi leader, who has not been heard from since Monday.

"I had trained with a group of Arab volunteers to fight the Americans," he said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't retained."

SPACE.WIRE