(17 Jul 2003)
Baghdad
1. Traffic on main road
2. Wide shot of mosque
3. Various of US troops patrolling streets
4. Iraqis looking at newspaper stand
5. Close up of newspapers
6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Rasul Abed, Vox Pop:
"There is no difference between Saddam's rule and Americans' rule. Saddam was a good pupil of the Americans. Saddam is gone, his masters came to rule us."
7. Traffic on main road
8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Vox Pop:
"The Revolution of 17th of July was a great thing. At the beginning, the revolution served the people of Iraq, it brought people lots of good - electricity, water, roads. It is only after that things started to go wrong."
9. US troops patrolling street
Tikrit
10. Various of US forces in Tikrit
11. Pan interior of restaurant
12. Man carrying tea
13. Close up portrait of Saddam Hussein
14. Restaurant owner counting money
15. Close up money
16. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ahmed Maolod Al-Tikriti:
"We won't give up hope as long as Saddam is alive. God willing, he will return back to us, powerful."
17. Wide shot street scene
18. Various of US convoy passing
STORYLINE
US forces in Iraq were on the lookout for new trouble on Thursday, the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist revolution that brought Saddam's political party to power.
The 17th of July was the single most important holiday in Saddam's Iraq.
Last year the streets of Baghdad were full of portraits of former president, and Iraqi television aired his anniversary speeches all day long.
The new Iraq Governing Council has cancelled the holiday, along with five others from Saddam's regime.
But the anniversary has not gone unnoticed, and many Iraqis have been reminiscing about the past.
Many say their lives have not improved since the fall of Saddam's regime.
Some went back further and spoke fondly about the early years of his rule before the Iran-Iraq war, in which the Iraqi government lavished generous benefits on its people, such as free health treatment.
At the time Iraq enjoyed a GDP similar to some Western European nations.
For US soldiers in post-Saddam Iraq, life is also harder than was anticipated.
Almost no day passes without attacks on American soldiers - as of Wednesday 147 US personnel had been killed in combat since the start of operations, as many as were killed during the entire 1991 Gulf War.
In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, US forces continued to patrol the city's streets on Thursday.
Saddam still commands respect from some Iraqis in the city - his portrait still hangs on the wall in a busy restaurant.
The owner says he hasn't given up hope of Saddam staging a comeback.
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