Defiant Iraqis Celebrate Saddam's 65th

Iraq celebrated President Saddam Hussein's 65th birthday Sunday with an annual display of government-sponsored loyalty whose theme this year was defiance in the face of U.S. determination to topple the Iraqi leader.

An estimated one million Iraqis took to the streets in Sunday's festivities.

As tens of thousands of people marched in Baghdad, state-run Iraqi media said Saddam's birthday marked the birth of an Iraq "which is free and victorious against U.S.-British-Zionist colonialism."

At the biggest celebration, in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit 100 miles north of Baghdad, schoolgirls performed traditional Arab dances and waved Iraqi and Palestinian flags. Singers praised Saddam as the symbol of "our dignity and pride."

"Bush, Bush, listen well, we all love Saddam Hussein," crowds shouted as they surged past a newly-built podium where Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan, cabinet ministers and ruling Baath Party officials watched the spectacle.

Last week, Ramadan said Saddam had demanded this year's birthday celebrations be scaled down because of Palestinian deaths in clashes with Israelis. He said ordinary Iraqis chose to expresses support for the Palestinians.

Ramadan added that "there's no people in the region as supportive of its leadership and its leader as in Iraq."

The Iraqi leader was nowhere in sight, choosing to stay away as he has done in recent years.

Marchers in Baghdad carried posters of Saddam and Iraqi flags and shouted, "Saddam is our leader forever."

The nationally televised events in Tikrit capped days of state-sponsored festivities around the country. Held every year since 1985, the birthday celebrations show the extent of Saddam's control over the country.

In the past week, official newspapers have published letters from well-wishers congratulating the president and pledging their allegiance.

State television has blared songs of praise and showed old footage of Saddam embracing children, talking to citizens and saluting cheering crowds.

In several provinces, crowds led by members of the ruling Baath party have taken to the streets, singing, dancing and wishing Saddam a happy birthday.

In a country where dissent is brutally suppressed and few public displays are spontaneous, it is difficult to judge how Iraqis feel about the birthday celebrations.

To some, the occasion may simply be a respite from everyday hardships and a chance to eat birthday cake and other delicacies they cannot normally afford.

"I came here to celebrate Saddam's birthday because he is the only hero who can liberate Palestine from the Zionists," said Jamal Ali, 50, a Baghdad resident.

Many Arabs believe the United States favors Israel, and Saddam has cast himself as a supporter of the Palestinians, ordering payments of up to $25,000 for families of Palestinian suicide bombers who have attacked Israel in the 19 months of violence.

Mr. Bush labeled Iraq part of an "axis of evil" in January, and administration officials say he wants Saddam out of power.

The New York Times reported in Sunday editions that the Bush administration was plotting a potential major air campaign and ground invasion early next year to topple the Iraqi government.

Arab governments have warned the United States that attacking Iraq would further inflame anti-American sentiment in the Middle East.

Iraq, normally wary of foreign journalists, invited scores to witness the opulent celebrations, which contrasted with the poverty that grips most of Iraq.

Iraq blames the economic situation on the U.N. trade sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait — and on the United States and other Western countries that insist the sanctions stay in place until they are satisfied Saddam has scrapped weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.

An exception to the sanctions allows Iraq to buy food and other humanitarian goods with the proceeds from oil sales, and the United States and its Western allies say Saddam is responsible for the plight of the Iraqi people, spending money on himself while they suffer.

The government newspaper Al-Qadissiya said Sunday that the birthday celebrations represent "a cry by the Iraqi people against the unjust embargo and evil U.S. aggression."

Iraqi dissidents abroad denounce the birthday celebrations as an expensive charade. Government officials insist that Iraqis participate spontaneously by the thousands.

Saddam has ruled Iraq since 1968 and has been president since 1979.