Tikrit believes Saddam is back

TIKRIT, Iraq (RTRS): Saddam Hussein statues are smashed and his posters are whitewashed. But people in his hometown of Tikrit are convinced the missing Iraqi leader has returned to the gritty streets where he grew up. Residents of Tikrit said on Monday Saddam was probably living with relatives, not far from US troops who may be tightening the net around him after capturing his closest aide.

Nobody thinks the Americans will ever capture Saddam alive, even though he may be right under their noses. "Saddam is protected by God. He is walking around Tikrit. He will never be captured because God is with him," said Ali Waseem. Saddam disappeared after he was toppled by the US and British invasion on April 9. US troops have captured 32 Iraqi officials on a wanted list of 55. But Saddam remains elusive. His fate came into sharp focus again when his secretary, national security adviser and senior bodyguard, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, was captured last week.

He was the most senior Iraqi fugitive arrested to date and was seen as the one most likely to know Saddam's movements. Sitting in their run-down cement house, Mahmud's elderly parents told Reuters they doubted he would reveal any information on Saddam. "Where did they take my son? Where did they take him?," asked Mahmud's crippled 75-year-old mother Thuraya Abdullah, who has known Saddam since he was a young boy.

"He will not say anything about Saddam. He never even discussed him with us. He will not say anything." Although US troops have controlled Tikrit for two months, Saddam is still regarded as a larger-than-life figure in this grim central Iraqi town that is home to his diehard supporters. Outside his former palace, Iraqi motorists drive by two giant statues of Saddam on horses with missiles at their feet.

Graffiti scrawled on a house tells US soldiers that "Saddam is strong in times of trouble," "We will kill you all" and "Saddam is a ghost." US troops, working on leads from Iraqi informers and captives, have been combing Tikrit and nearby towns for Saddam. "The 122nd infantry owns Tikrit. They get the information on Saddam and then they question people," said Lieutenant Amanda Dorsey, from Fort Hood, Texas. Seeking Saddam is not the only thing keeping US troops busy. Every day assailants fire guns or rocket-propelled grenades at them. Nineteen US soldiers have been killed since major combat was declared over on May 1. Tikrit is a hotspot.

Along the main street, small sidewalk restaurants cook chicken and kebab in the scorching heat. Iraqi policemen mingle with US troops. But most Iraqis want the Americans to leave. And they believe Saddam is the man who will come back and kick them out. "The president is in Tikrit. He has rockets and he will come back on July 16 and he will attack the Americans," said Hussein Muhammad, a traffic policeman. July 16, 1979 is the anniversary of Saddam taking power following the resignation of president Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr who took power in a 1968 Baath Party coup.

Tikrit is far more lively than in the days just after Saddam's defeat. Banks are open. The Iraqi Airways office has a new sign, though commercial flights to Iraq have yet to start. Uniformed policemen are back to work and traffic is moving. But Tikritis say life was better under Saddam, despite his torture chambers, prisons and executions.

At the Agriculture Bank, a bank employee and an army officer complain that their wages were higher when Saddam's state tightly controlled the economy. "I worked at the bank for 26 years and my salary was $450. Now under the Americans I am making $160," said a woman who asked not to be named.

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