We have not seen any joyous parades welcoming liberating coalition forces yet, and judging by this article in the Guardian, maybe we should not expect them any time soon. The article describes civilian casualties in Nasariyya and the effect this has had on the population. It also describes clashes between the marines and Iraqi civilians.

"We don't want Saddam, but we don't want them [the Americans] to stay afterwards," says one Iraqi quoted in the article, echoing what other travelers to Iraq have been saying all along. "Like they entered into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar and didn't leave, they will do here. They are fighting Islam. They're entering under the pretext of targeting Ba'ath, but they won't leave." I had expected to hear this sentiment, but not for six months at least.

But the American marines are sympathetic to the plight of the Iraqis:

"I've been all the way through this desert from Basra to here and I ain't seen one shopping mall or fast food restaurant," [Sergeant Michael Sprague of White Sulphur Springs, WV] said. "These people got nothing. Even in a little town like ours of twenty five hundred people you got a McDonald's at one end and a Hardee's at the other."