Previous Shortly after the "fall" of Baghdad but 7 months before the capture of Saddam Hussein, we were in Tikrit.  At this point we were camped northwest of the city in an abandoned air field, without a perimeter or many other soldiers.  We drove into the city on a few occasions for humanitarian missions or to buy fruit where, unlike other parts of the country, we were met with open hostility.  I knew the entire populace was against us when I saw the disdain and defiance in this little girl's eyes as she returned, unaccompanied, to her home from buying ice cream. Next

Shortly after the "fall" of Baghdad but 7 months before the capture of Saddam Hussein, we were in Tikrit. At this point we were camped northwest of the city in an abandoned air field, without a perimeter or many other soldiers. We drove into the city on a few occasions for humanitarian missions or to buy fruit where, unlike other parts of the country, we were met with open hostility. I knew the entire populace was against us when I saw the disdain and defiance in this little girl's eyes as she returned, unaccompanied, to her home from buying ice cream.