Iraqi Americans, exiles celebrate death of Saddam

Dearborn (Mich), Dec 30: Iraqi expatriates kept a jubilant vigil outside Detroit, counting down the final hours for Saddam Hussein and greeting confirmation of his death by hanging with a street party.

Dozens of Iraqi men in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn gathered last night at the parking lot of a gas station and doughnut shop that hosted a similar celebration when Saddam's death sentence was handed down in November.

With Saddam about to be hanged for the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers in 1982 during a crackdown on the village of Dujail, the mood was festive in Dearborn, home to the largest US Arab-American community.

Saddam was widely hated in the community, where most of the Iraqi Americans and more recent arrivals are Shi'ite and support for the 2003 US-led invasion remains strong.

''I want to thank President Bush,'' said Haytham Almawla, 35.

''He said he would take Saddam out and he did it.'' As a procession of cars, many bedecked with the Iraqi flag blared horns and cruised Warren Avenue, men danced to Arabic music and tossed handfuls of candy at the first reports of Saddam's death.

Two small boys bundled against the cold in heavy winter coats and perched on a nearby car held handwritten signs: ''Death, death to Saddam,'' and ''At last Iraq is in peace.'' All of those gathered recalled with anger and sadness family members who had been killed by Saddam's regime.

''This is the day that I can rest. This is the day that my mother can rest,'' said Achmed Timimi, who returned to Dearborn last month after an 18-month stint as an adviser to the US Army in Baghdad.

Timimi, 42, said his older brother, a university professor, had been killed by Saddam's government. ''Everybody here in Dearborn, we all came after 1991, after the uprising. And all of us lost loved ones,'' he said.

Jabar Alzayadi, 43, said his brother, a soldier in the Iraqi army, had been executed in 1989.

''I want to see Saddam hanged because he hanged my brother,'' he said. ''My brother did nothing wrong. He was not political. He had six kids.'' Despite the mood of celebration, some men said they were worried about relatives left behind in Iraq, and the prospect of reprisals from armed Sunni groups.

''I just spoke to my sisters and my mother in Baghdad,'' said Farazdak Alsady, 22, who was wearing an Iraqi flag wrapped around on his head. ''They said 'We've locked the doors because we know something is going to happen.''' Haider Alkhalidi, 12, and Ali Aljebury, 11, walked to the street party out of curiosity.

Both were born outside Iraq and had never been there, but their families had described great suffering under Saddam.

''He deserves it. I hate that guy,'' said Alkhalidi.

Added Aljebury: ''I was born here. I've only been to Canada. But I know that guy had to die.''

Reuters

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