Death anniversary of Saddam passes quietly

LOS ANGELES TIMES

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of mourners visited the tomb of Saddam Hussein on Sunday to light candles and recite the Quran in memory of the ousted dictator who was hanged a year ago.

Security forces braced for possible attacks in Baghdad and the Sunni Arab heartland north of the capital, where Saddam’s chaotic execution heightened the alienation many Sunnis feel under Iraq’s new Shiite rulers.

Driving bans were imposed in the flash-point cities of Baiji and Dour to ward against car bombs, and extra checkpoints went up in and around Tikrit. But there were no reports of violence associated with the anniversary.

Many Saddam loyalists have joined forces with U.S. and Iraqi troops in the past year to fight the religious extremists they once tolerated, a decision U.S. officials credit with helping to reduce bloodshed across the country by 60 percent since June. Although most remain opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq, the extreme violence and austere interpretation of Islam imposed by groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq dismayed them.

In Al Auja, Saddam’s birthplace on the outskirts of Tikrit, schoolchildren lit candles in the hall where the dictator was laid to rest. Hundreds visited the tomb — decked in flowers and the Iraqi flag — but it was a far cry from the crowds of thousands that Saddam could command in his lifetime.

Residents chafed at the beefed-up security presence in their village.

“We were surprised with these measures taken by the government, curfews in some areas and the blockage of various streets,” said Thamer Baker, an unemployed former civil servant from Saddam’s Albu Nasir tribe. “Why? Do they fear us? Where is the democracy they talk about?”

In the chaos of competing armed factions and near-daily bombings across Iraq, there are some who hanker for the comparative stability of his brutal regime.

“He was not a dictator,” declared Saif Nateek, a policeman from Saddam’s tribe. “He was able to keep this country united, to hold it with a firm grip.”

In nearby Tikrit, graffiti lingers from the day Saddam was hanged: “Shame on the government” and “Long live Saddam.”

Members of Iraq’s Shiite-led government had hoped the execution would unite the country and lay the past to rest. Instead, footage showing Shiite onlookers taunting Saddam as the noose was placed around his neck sparked outrage among his fellow Sunnis.

The grainy images, which were captured on a cell phone and posted on the Internet, fueled a day of bloodshed last year that killed at least 78 people. The timing of the hanging, on the day Sunnis began celebrating the sacred Eid al-Adha festival, deepened the betrayal felt here and in Sunni Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria and Jordan.