Tikrit falls, and so the last vestige of Saddam's power crumbles

American troops rolled into Tikrit yesterday for what they thought would be a final ferocious showdown with the remaining forces of Saddam Hussein in his home town.

Less than 10 hours later, the people who had lived in what was probably the most prosperous place in Iraq appeared to have already forgotten their beloved leader and were thinking only of themselves. They laughed and smiled as they made off with unimagined riches. The hordes of looters were laden down with gold – gold dishes, gold trays and gold-legged chairs – which they carried away with careless glee. There seemed hardly a thought for the man whose palace they were looting.

As for the battle it was almost an anti-climax. The big bang that was to have signified the end of the conflict in Iraq was really little more than a whimper: Tikrit fell perhaps more easily than most of the towns before it.

The US forces had taken few chances with the town, which is 110 miles north of Baghdad. Expecting a dogged last stand they had pounded its defences with nights of air strikes. By the time the Americans arrived not much resistance remained. A Stars and Stripes was flying from the palace in a matter of hours.

"From Baghdad to here there was nothing," said Cpl David Chahua, of the 1st US Marine Division, whose armoured vehicle was parked on the long, elegant driveway of one of the several presidential palaces in Tikrit. All around him marines were sitting, washing their socks and shaving on President Saddam's lawn.

"The people were out on the streets of all the little towns we were passing," Cpl Chahua said. It was an eerie feeling. One of the guys said it was like a ride at Disneyland."

Predictably enough, the US troops claimed people were pleased to see them, that they had received cheers and waves and even encountered local people throwing flowers as they approached the home of Saddam's Tikriti clan.

That may have been the case as the columns of green armour rolled through the small towns of sandstone coloured houses on the way here, but in Tikrit itself there seemed little sign of a welcome. To be fair, the centre of Tikrit was close to a ghost town. The few locals who were lolling on the street corners or else sitting watching the US troops from the doorways of their closed shops, said the last Iraqi soldiers had pulled out 10 days ago.

The senior Baath party members who had prospered under President Saddam's rule had likewise long disappeared – to Syria, some said – or were holed up in their upmarket homes. "There were some Syrians and some Fedayeen here – they went yesterday," said Nihad Ali, a friendly young man in a red and black football shirt. "They went home to their countries."

Mr Ali, a medical student who has lived and studied in Tikrit for the past six years, said if this was the end of the war he hoped that life would improve, that people's dreams could be fulfilled, now that President Saddam had been forced out. But he was not convinced that the securing of Tikrit and the abandonment of presidential palaces to looters marked the end of the war.

"People think the war will be starting if the Americans and British forces are here for a long time," he warned. "If they are here for a long time there will be problem. Iraqi people will not keep their mouths shut – they will rise up. People have taken the weapons of the Iraqi army – you cannot imagine how many there are in their houses."

There were plenty of people who echoed his comments. Yes they were pleased that President Saddam was gone, but what sort of freedom were the Americans offering in exchange? There was no electricity, no food, no water. "The Americans give us nothing," said Habib Doud, a watchman.

Tikrit is not perhaps the best barometer of opinion in Iraq. The town has long received special treatment and, as a result, one might have expected the criticism of US and British forces to be sharper here. This was not apparent yesterday but it was clear that people, especially the middle-classes, have very real concerns.