Iraqis in port city of Umm Qasr show small signs of confidence

UMM QASR, Iraq -- The portrait of Saddam Hussein welcoming drivers to this port city has been freshly painted over with three red Xs. Overnight, locals say new slogans reading "Death to Saddam" and "Down with Saddam" appeared on the walls at the market.

The new graffiti underlines the growing sense of security in this British-controlled city. But even Iraqis arriving Sunday to seek jobs at the port are hesitant to have their pictures taken -- afraid Baghdad's agents are still on the prowl and that the U.S.-led coalition won't finish the liberation it started.

"I hope they continue doing what they are coming for and they get Saddam," Haider Abduljabar Mrayir, 20, a former student who was hoping to get hired at the port, said of the U.S. and British forces.

The job-seeking Iraqis were brought in military trucks and searched upon entering the Umm Qasr port under the close watch of British troops. Prospective employees were selected by the town council, which the military says has no ties to Saddam's Baath Party. British forces say they are trying to assure their new helpers that the coalition forces will stay until the situation is stable.

"We're telling them that we're here to stay until they have a democracy, until they can manage themselves," said Maj. Allen Poulson of the Royal Logistics Corps, who is in charge of rehiring some 1,000 workers to operate the port. "What we want to do is give them back their own job so we can give their port back to them and they can carry on with their lives."

Some workers said they were afraid of having their pictures taken for the jobs because they still have relatives living in cities under Iraqi government control.

'We are safe'

"The British army is here, we are safe," said Yasser Hassan Ghanim, 22, who has been unemployed since running away from the Iraqi army in 2001. "But we are afraid the armies will go back just like in 1991."

"If Saddam Hussein is finished now, we are happy. But if not, we are still in danger," said Osamah Kadhem, 39, who was recently rehired at the port, where he had previously been a supervisor for eight years. "If they find me working here, maybe they will kill me."

Samer Muhsin, 26, who has a degree in geography, said young men in this city of 45,000 now feel free from the watchful eyes of police and can pursue jobs. He said that under Saddam's regime, there was nothing for graduates like him to do except enter the military.

Muhsin said the anti-Saddam slogans appeared at the local market overnight, and said Iraqis still wouldn't brave such an act of rebellion in broad daylight despite the British and U.S. military presence.

All along the roads through town, children wave water bottles at cars and point to open mouths, shouting the few English words in their vocabulary, "welcome" and "water," while waving the "V" sign or giving a thumbs-up.

The first humanitarian aid ship docked Friday at Umm Qasr's port amid much fanfare after the waterway leading to it was cleared of mines. But Muhsin said it has been slow to reach residents.

One man standing near the Saddam portrait with his black-veiled wife pleaded to passing journalists. "I want food, I want water, I want electricity," he said. "Before we had water, now we don't."

Still, many Iraqis said they were happy coalition troops were patrolling the streets.

"We don't want Saddam Hussein. He doesn't pay attention to our suffering," said Ferras Mohammed, 30, who was walking through town with water jugs perched on the back of a battered bicycle. "We have been waiting for you to come. We feel good to have soldiers here."