Winning the peace in Iraq: as war and chaos ebb, Iraqis hold out hope for a better future. (News Special).

On April 9, residents of Baghdad, Iraq's capital, toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein with help from some U.S. Marines. A reign of terror had ended.

It was a stunning victory for coalition forces. Joyous Iraqis gave the thumbs-up sign in Baghdad's streets and shouted, "Bush good!" But almost instantly, celebration turned to chaos.

After living in extreme deprivation for two decades, many Iraqis ransacked government buildings, museums, and palaces. Looters took whatever they came across--Toyota Land Cruisers, light fixtures, cigars, Persian carpets, and prehistoric stone sculptures. They stormed banks and stuffed fistfuls of dinars--the now-worthless Iraqi currency--into their bags.

Vandals burned all of the books in Iraq's National Library, turning ancient handwritten copies of the Koran and other priceless artifacts into piles of ash.

"Our national heritage is lost," said a high school teacher as he stood outside the ruined library.

Hospitals did not escape the destruction either. Many had to close because medical supplies were stolen. Hospitals that remained open struggled with a lack of supplies, power, and clean water, as well as a shortage of doctors.

For many Iraqis, fear soon turned to anger--at the looters and at U.S. forces who were not prepared to handle the chaos.

One cultural-center director in Baghdad told a New York Times reporter: "I want you to come and see what they have done to my institute. It's all gone: the paintings, the piano, the carpets, the music. All looted by these animals. Our liberation!"

The Cradle of Civilization 

The loss of ancient manuscripts and sculptures was felt keenly around the world. Mesopotamia, the region that is now Iraq, is called the cradle of civilization. In about 3500 B.C., the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers gave rise to the Sumerian civilization. The first system of writing, astronomy, calendars, the legal system, irrigation, and the wheel were all invented there.

"I don't think anyone anticipated that the riches of Iraq would be looted by the people of Iraq," U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said from the Central Command headquarters in Qatar. But before the war, U.S. archaeologists warned the Pentagon about the risks of theft and destruction.

"Looting follows the breakdown of law and order in most societies," wrote two U.S. scholars in The Boston Globe. "There can be no doubt that in Baghdad, American forces deliberately engineered that breakdown without having allocated [set up] adequate resources to put something in its place."

A Delicate Balance.

A week after Saddam Hussein's statue came tumbling down, coalition leaders established a temporary office in one of Hussein's former palaces. There they began a new mission: helping to rebuild Iraq.

"The decisive combat portion of the campaign is finished," declared U.S. Army General Tommy Franks, chief of the Central Command. "Now.., we see the remnants of what we call Arab fighters or foreign fighters who have come in from a number of other countries.... So now we are in the business of rooting them out.

While everyone wants coalition forces to leave Iraq as soon as possible, the amount of work left to be done is staggering. The U.S. must provide humanitarian assistance, maintain law and order, and help the Iraqis establish a new government. The tasks raise several difficult issues. What role will the United Nations play? (See Debate, p. 8.) How much will reconstruction cost? And how long will the process rake?

After World War II, the U.S. military spent four years in Germany and seven years in Japan, helping to rebuild those countries. Nonetheless, many Americans think that the U.S. occupation of Iraq will last only about a year. Iraqis, too, hope that their country can soon be turned over to them. But if history is any guide, building a stable peace will likely take longer than most people now believe.

Your Turn: Think About it

1. How could the U.S. military have done more to prevent looting in Iraq?

2. 'What work lies ahead for the Iraqi people?

RELATED ARTICLE: War Dirry.

The road to baghdad.

During the war, reporter Letta Tayler traveled with a U.S. Marine combat unit from Kuwait to Baghdad. She was one of about 600 journalists, known as "embeds," who risked their lives to send news of the war home. Since the U.S. first bombed Baghdad on March 19, at least 12 journalists and camera operators have been killed.

Letta writes for Newsday, a New York newspaper. She offered to share some of her frontline experiences with JS.

March 27

On paper, at least, war can be a tidy affair. But even with their overwhelming military superiority, U.S. ground forces have found the road to Baghdad fraught with pitfalls. They include nebulous [indistinct] targets, deadly ambushes, blinding sandstorms-and traffic jams.

March 28

I've spent a second night with my Marine. unit camped in a garbage dump. We are surrounded by old cans of oil, rusted car radiators, rotten shoes, filthy rags, and abandoned tires. We literally dig trenches down into this rot and sleep in it. I have spent too many hours traveling in a hot [armored vehicle] in a biochemical protective suit and boots, helmet, and flack jacket. The jacket weighs about 20 pounds and [seems to add] about 20 degrees to my body temperature.

March 29

Like the soldiers, I eat "MealsReady-to-Eat"--MREs, for short. They come in 24 different flavors--from jambalaya to pasta Alfredo to meat loaf About the size of a paper-back novel, they are packaged in foil and can be heated in 15 minutes by placing them in a bag with water that activates a chemical heating strip.

April 3

The people of a ramshackle village nestled along the banks of the Tigris greeted U.S. Marines with waves and smiles. Children touched the troops uniforms with curious, dust-smeared hands. Men in flowing robes offered them sweet tea in small glasses, and women swathed head to roe in black gave them sticky dates wrapped in freshly baked flat bread. Even the woolly sheep came out and gaped.

April 7

The mail arrived yesterday, giving the drab April day the celebratory feel of Christmas. After more than a month of no news from home, frontline infantrymen, officers, and staff sergeants swarmed around their platoon leaders to snatch envelopes, postcards, and packets stuffed with notes and goodies-items that would be [commonplace] back in the U.S., but which in wartime had become emotional lifesavers.

April 10

We're finally in Baghdad! I cant wait to go home!