Iraqi joy of a lifetime

BAGHDAD - Iraqis were singing and dancing in the streets early this morning singing "they got Saddam, they got Saddam" as the news was confirmed that the tyrant had been captured hiding in a basement near his home town of Tikrit.

People huddled around radios or stood in the streets watching television reports as news of the arrest of Saddam Hussein spread quickly.

The tone of the celebrations was set at a Baghdad press conference when prolonged applause greeted the announcement by the US administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer: "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

Later, when a video of a shaven Saddam was shown, Iraqi journalists chanted "death to Saddam" and "down with Saddam".

In the early afternoon, local time, gunfire broke out across the capital as news filtered through that Saddam was in US custody.

Citizens came into the streets firing guns, mostly Kalashnikov rifles, in the air in celebration.

Others honked the horns of their cars in jubilation.

As the news spread through the country, the reaction was one of unsurpassed joy.

"We are celebrating like it's a wedding," said one resident of Kirkuk.

Another described it as being "the joy of a lifetime".

Saddam's capture is seen as a defining moment in the Iraq war and subsequent rebuilding process, and US Administration officials have hoped it would lessen or break the organised resistance against US troops that have led to scores of deaths since the end of combat operations.

"His arrest will put an end to military and terrorist attacks and the Iraqi nation will achieve stability," said Amar al-Hakin, a senior member of the Shi'ite political party the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

"We want Saddam to get what he deserves. I believe he will be sentenced to hundreds of death sentences at a fair trial because he's responsible for all the massacres and crimes in Iraq."

However, the top American general in Iraq poured cold water on suggestions that the capture of Saddam would mean and end to the attacks on US troops in Iraq.

"We do not expect at this point in time that we will have a complete elimination of those attacks," Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez told a news conference in Baghdad.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq