The pictures of the capital's top businesses and ministries going up in flames as US troops station their tanks at sensitive sites around Baghdad have hit a raw nerve for some Iraqis who cherished their reputation as a proud and independent people.

Sabah Najib, a retired schoolteacher, said the looters make up "only a miniscule percentage of the Iraqi people," most of whom "are pained by all these obscenities".

"We are a silent majority who unfortunately cannot do much in the current context."

Strolling through the Al-Mansur district, 52-year-old architect Nizar Hamid has started to feel more secure since armed local militias began patrolling, taking over the function of the police who vanished with the rest of the Saddam Hussein regime's appartus on Wednesday.

Militias check the identities of everyone driving through the neighborhood. Any looted goods are thrown onto the sidewalk.

US President George W. "Bush supports the looters," reads a banner put up between two electric poles.

"No honest Iraqi can accept what is happening," Hamid said. "This is done by bandits and fugitives from justice, and I can tell you that most Iraqis share this view."

Like Hamid, Ahmed al-Khatib believed that criminals who were kept in check by Saddam's authoritarian regime had the most to celebrate when the US troops arrived.

"Those who warmly welcomed the Americans are now carrying out the looting," he said.

"Under Saddam Hussein at least we had security and would sleep with the doors of our homes open," Khatib said.

"People burn down what they think was Saddam's property, but really it belonged to the people," noted Abdul Hussein Hattab, 48, a merchant.

While hundreds of Iraqis, including police officers, on Saturday responded to a US call to help restore order and services, some residents complained about the Americans' initial priorities.

US troops failed to intervene when top businesses were trashed, but a fleet of tanks was positioned outside the oil ministry.

"Why aren't they letting thieves go into this ministry?" asked Adnan Hazem, 54. "I'm against Saddam but Bush lied to us. I'm with my country and I'm afraid for the future."

For Safar Hussein Hazem, a jeweler who has hidden his merchandise for fear of looters, the reigning chaos "isn't freedom".

"The Americans have the ability to put an end to our suffering. We're not thieves, we're brave people," he said.

"If the Americans don't do anything in the coming weeks, we'll drive them out," declared Hassan Fahed. "Iraq is an ancient civilization; the United States is nothing."

Mohammad al-Wahab, a 42-year-old bureaucrat, insisted that the scenes of looting and anarchy "could happen in any country in the world because there are criminals everywhere".

In his view "the true Iraqis" are not those who have attached white banners to their cars to avoid being shot by US troops, "but those who are waving the Iraqi flag".

"Today I'm ashamed to say I'm Iraqi. Honest Iraqis, even those who are against Saddam Hussein, would never cheer for the Americans."

Ahmed Aziz al-Hadithi, an officer in the Iraqi army who is helping patrol the Al-Mansur area, charged that the looters were "spies bought off by those who want to destroy Iraq".

"Saddam Hussein was exactly what they needed. Look at what they're doing now that he's no longer here," he said.

"One day or another honest Iraqis are going to force out the Americans, not for the sake of Saddam Hussein, but for the sake of Iraq."

SPACE.WIRE