Joining forces in a city of shattered order and ransacked history, U.S. troops and Iraqi police are setting up patrols to rein in waves of thievery in Baghdad. Marines rolled north to confront what could be Saddam Hussein's last holdouts.

A wild firefight outside a Baghdad hotel Saturday and the threat of suicide bombings kept American soldiers wrapped in the urgent business of putting down armed resistance in the capital even as looting spread.

They accepted the surrender of Saddam's Hussein's science adviser, the first top official of the Saddam era taken into custody, among 55 being sought. Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi is likely to know about any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but insisted Iraq has none.

Restraining mobs of looters was a rapidly growing priority.

Robbing history itself, thieves pillaged the Iraq National Museum, stealing or destroying artifacts going back 7,000 years - predating even Babylon. The loss resonated through Baghdad and around the world.

''This is Iraq's civilization,'' said a tearful museum employee. ''And it's all gone now.'' At Emory University in Atlanta, historian Gordon Newby said: ''This is just one of the most tragic things that could happen for our being able to understand the past.''

Iraqis who had warmly welcomed Americans in the capital last week were growing resentful at the persistent disorder, noting the troops often just stood by as people stormed government offices, schools, hospitals and homes.

U.S. officials were dispatching the first contingent of 1,200 American police and judicial officers to help troops put a lid on the lawlessness.

Iraqi police, quickly adapting to the new power order, worked with U.S. Marines to set up joint patrols that would start work in a day or two.