Dang, the party has already started!
The long oppressed citizens of Baghdad are having a hoedown:

They paused only to show off their booty to the cameras and shout "Thank you Mr. Bush."

Then they rushed back to strip the abandoned ministries of President Saddam Hussein of anything of value. And there wasn't much.

One looter staggered under the weight of an ornamental vase half his height. Another emerged from the Ministry of Irrigation with a huge bouquet of plastic flowers.

Well, yeehaw!

"If you only knew what this guy did to Iraq! He killed our youth, killed millions of people," said one looter.

"No to Saddam. Thank you Mr. Bush," said an old man.

Younger men piled office chairs, tables and boxes into the back of pick-up trucks. Others emerged from a depot rolling yellow tyres.

Crowds later looted government food stores used to dole out state rations and buildings belonging to Saddam's Baath Party.

It was not only the symbols of Saddam's iron rule of Iraq that were ransacked. Iraqis stormed a United Nations compound and drove off in U.N. marked vehicles and with office equipment.

Depends on your point of view I guess. I'd say the United Nations was also a symbol of Saddam's iron rule.

So what's the spin? Although "Baghdad Bob and The Minders" didn't show up for duty today at the Palestine Hotel, some of their friends were still about:

The only shooting in the city center was from Iraqi paramilitaries firing sporadically at U.S. forces across the river.

The firing came from around the Palestine Hotel, home to many foreign journalists, but the U.S. military did not return fire.

And Saddam's friends inside the hotel piped up with today's talking points. Newshawk Lindsay Hilsum was spotted on the Bagcam reporting back to London that there was anarchy and a breakdown in law and order. Well, now there's a blooming shock!

This particular whine has been going on for a few days now - I even heard one bozo bemoaning the troops staying in Saddam's palaces as desecration of Iraq's "national treasures." Oh, Lindsay also shared with us that her minder from the Ministry of Disinformation was really a sweet guy. I'd say Stockholm Syndrome, but suspect it is worse than that.