The Iraqis complained that the US-led troops had showed insensitivity towards Arab Muslim traditions. “They put their hands on the bodies of the women as they search them,” said an elderly man from Nasiriyah in weeping tears of humiliation.

“We don’t want money, we don’t want food,” an angry man said. “What we want is our dignity,” The man, from the southern city of Nasiriyah, did not mention if any of his female relatives were treated as such.

Iraq is a conservative society and the touching of women by foreign men is considered an act of shame.

Women and men are searched at crossing points as US-led troops try to stave off the threat of concealed weapons and human bombs.

The Geneva Convention prohibits “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment" of persons taking no active part in the hostilities to conduct

Al-Jazeera correspondent, Amr Kahki, met residents when he joined a tour for journalists organised by US troops who wanted to inaugurate a water purification project.

“They are all liars,” shouted one Iraqi in his fifties. “(US President) George Bush is a liar and (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein is a liar and all Arab rulers are liars,” he said.

Iraqi people have been suffering severely under sanctions for more than a decade. “We are tired,” the man added.

Another younger man accused the US of hypocrisy. “There are gangs that are looting the colleges and universities. Let me talk to the Americans, aren't you saying that you are freedom lovers and will bring us democracy? Why then do you allow such bandits to do so?” an Iraqi citizen said.

“Both the US and Iraqi governments are against the Iraqi people,” said another man.