But presuming his era had ended, a white-haired man in the inner city took a poster of Saddam and beat it with his shoe - a traditional insult. Others gathered to spit on or kick the portrait.
"Come see, this is freedom," the man said. "This is the criminal, this is the infidel. This is the destiny of every traitor. He killed millions of us ... Oh people, this is freedom."
But another old man who has spent the past few weeks quietly telling the Herald how much he longed for this day, said simply: "Now we dance."