Bringing freedom to Iraq

The Guardian's daily roundup of bad news from Iraq had this little snippet:

Before dawn on Friday, U.S. troops sealed off Saddam's birthplace village of Uja, about 95 miles north of Baghdad, where relatives of Saddam and adherents of his Baath Party have long been suspected of maintaining contacts with the ousted leader.

The 4th Infantry Division troops ringed the village with razor wire, set up checkpoints and began issuing identity cards to villagers to control their movements.

This is the American version of freedom? Razor wire, checkpoints, and armed guards saying "papers, please" while fingering their assault rifles?