Posted on 12/14/2003 5:31:43 PM PST by FairOpinion
The first rumours of his capture were greeted by a volley of speculative gunfire at lunchtime. The confirmation of Saddam Hussein's arrest brought a moment of shocked silence as the face of the dictator flashed on television screens in electrical goods shops where many had gathered expectantly.
Then the shooting, dancing and unbounded joy spilt out on to the streets as celebrations began in traditional Iraqi style. Baghdad, the city Saddam called the capital of the Arab world, finally threw off the yoke of 30 years of his tyranny.
"I don't believe it," shouted Khalid Mahmud, at one shop as the news broke, but his brother was already dashing outside with an AK47 to fire jubilant rounds in the air.
"It's like celebrating a hundred Christmases," said his cousin, firing madly into the air until Iraqis nearby told him to watch where he was shooting.
As evening fell, the party had moved out on to the street. The electricity was out but for once no one seemed to care.
Wasam Adain, 23, a music shop owner, was just shutting up shop to find members of his band. "Thank you Bush. I shall be playing my trumpet until the dawn," he said.
On Baghdad's main commercial street another band had already begun playing. "Saddam has gone the way of other tyrants," the revellers sang, as they made up the verses on the spot.
"No! No to Saddam Hussein," others chanted. For years they were meant to chant "Yes, yes to our glorious leader."
A percussion of firecrackers punctuated the music, as children joined in the party.
"Finally I am happy," said Najim Fukkar, 13, setting off a handful of squibs. He queued at a nearby shop selling party accessories with a horde of other children.
"Don't be scared, they're only Iraqi fireworks," he said.
The scenes of jubilation were echoed in London, where hundreds of Iraqi exiles took to the streets.
The Edgeware Road and Marble Arch area, which has a large Iraqi community, saw dancing, shouting and Iraqi flags being waved.
Many who had not been to Iraq since they were children said they would now consider returning to their homeland to start new lives there.
But for some Iraqis in Baghdad, the shock of seeing Saddam's face fill television screens again evoked mixed feelings.
The city has been transformed since he was last shown during the war greeting defiant Iraqis. But for many the memory of his deeds lives on.
At the entrance to an unfinished mosque - begun by Saddam in the last few years of his reign to be the largest in the Muslim world - Iraqi soldiers contemplated the dictator's monumental folly.
"He was like a father to us, a very bad and tyrannical father," said Firas Safar, 30, a security guard. "It is not easy to forget your father."
Another man described his feeling of humiliation at how the Iraqi dictator was captured "like a rat in a hole". He said: "He brings shame to the people of Iraq."
In Sadr City - the ghetto once created by Saddam to house Baghdad's persecuted Shia minority - many residents said they felt nothing but anger.
Halima Saberiq, 70, described how both her sons were killed by Saddam. "I will never understand why he did that such an evil thing," she said.
"But Allah has had his revenge on the dictator. There are many strong people who will take revenge on him."
Dar Rhanim, a worker who fled to Iran in the 1990s after two of his brothers were killed, said: "My only sadness is he's not already dead."
It was left to the children of the capital to voice the hopes of a generation untouched by Saddam's vices.
Haider Mehdi, 13, said: "Everything will be different. I will not have to join the army now and - God willing - there will be no more fighting."
The demoncrats must be in total denial now. This can't be happening, Pelosi told them so.
"But Allah has had his revenge on the dictator. There are many strong people who will take revenge on him."
If we don't see to it that Saddam is executed for his crimes, America will lose face with the Arab world. Justice must be done.
"MY DOUBLE IS IN CUBA" - - - - - "I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT MAN'S MOTHER"
Howard Dean?
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