At least 10 utility vehicles and trucks left the scene in Iskandariyah, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Baghdad, packed with used air conditioners, tables, desks, chairs and other office goods.

"Good, Bush," one Iraqi boy said as he stood on the back of an overloaded truck that was driving away with a white flag flying from the driver's rear view mirror.

US soldiers watched the looting from their post about 500 metres (yards) away, where they guarded an enormous military complex the 101st Airborne Division is using as a base.

Specialist Steve Lizotte said he had seen more than 100 vehicles during his four hours on duty at the guard post.

"At first we were all confused and told them not to go there and then we realised what they were doing and we let them go ahead with their business," Lizotte told AFP.

He said he had seen chairs, tables, book shelves, water pumps, clothes and tyres being taken away, with many people making repeated trips.

"As soon as they unload they come back for more," Lizotte said.

Lizotte described the looters as "pretty friendly" and said the guards had not interfered because their priority was to protect their base.

"They are just some locals who are picking up what the Iraqi army left behind," he said. "I guess they were deprived of anything (under fallen Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein)."

The military complex and its administration buildings are isolated, with no houses within sight.

Military officials said the complex was a storage centre for thousands of bombs, but it appeared to have been downgraded significantly after the 1991 Gulf War and much of the weaponry there was obsolete.

The United States military has been criticised for not doing enough to prevent lawlessness and looting that has gripped Baghdad and other cities in the days that followed the fall of Saddam's regime.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the media on Friday of exaggerating the problem.

But he acknowledged that the United States had an obligation to provide security and said that troops were patrolling Baghdad and acting to stop looting where they found it.

SPACE.WIRE