Baghdad | Sunday
THOUSANDS of Iraqis took to the streets of the northern Iraqi town of Takrit on Sunday to celebrate the 65th birthday of President Saddam Hussein.
But it was General Ali Hassan al-Magid, member of the Revolutionary Command Council, and not Saddam who took centre stage in Takrit, 170 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Saddam himself is rarely seen at any of the myriad birthday festivities and usually has the media report that he celebrated among school children at an undisclosed location.
In a ceremony broadcast live on state television for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War, General Magid lit a huge candle and cut a giant birthday cake.
The three-hour parade saw thousands of youngsters from all provinces of Iraq singing and dancing, while the general fired a revolver into the air as proof, according to the television commentary, of ”Iraq’s resistance to enemy plans”.
Crowds of men, women and children carried banners and portraits of Saddam Hussein and waved thousands of Iraqi flags.
Ministers and leading members of the ruling Baath political party, notably Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, in addition to members of Baghdad’s accredited diplomatic corps, were also present.
The Iraqis were showing a ”deep attachment to their wise leadership under the guidance of President Saddam Hussein, which they assure will stand up against the US-Zionist arrogance,” said Ahmad Abed Rashid, governor of Salaheddin province and organiser of the festivities.
Other marches of ”faith” for Saddam were organised in several regions of Iraq, including Baghdad, where, according to an official source, some 2.5-million Iraqis were to take part in the celebrations.
Born on April 28, 1937, Saddam Hussein has been president since June 1979 and holds an array of posts from secretary general of the ruling Baath party to prime minister and commander in chief of the armed forces.
Since the United Nations slapped a crippling sanctions regime on Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990, Saddam’s birthdays have assumed an increasingly grandiose scale.
Official newspapers reported on Sunday that Iraqis were celebrating Saddam’s birthday as a new act of allegiance to the president.
”This is the day of a new act of allegiance … by which the people defy the enemies of Iraq and the Arab nation,” the Baath party daily Ath-Thawra said. -Sapa-AFP