Longing for Saddam in Tikrit

Longing for Saddam in Tikrit

When you see Iraqi policemen salute the grave of Saddam Hussein, you start to realize how much more needs to be achieved before Iraq is on the road to true peace and stability. There are Iraqis who long for the past, especially in Tikrit, the hometown of the late Iraqi leader.

A few moments later, a family arrived at the gravesite which has become a shrine for many. A woman kissed Saddam's grave and cried out: "Abu Oday, where are you? I wish you were here. Since you have been gone, we have been humiliated."

No doubt there are many in Iraq who are glad that Saddam is no longer in power. But there are those who have lost faith in that future and call out for the past.

The upcoming election is supposed to shape Iraq's future, but there are those who lost faith.

Raji Khodr was one of our police escorts (In Iraq, it is quite dangerous to travel without security forces who belong to the province you are visiting). He joined the force in 2003.

But it seems his loyalty belongs to the previous regime. For this 27 year old, Saddam Hussein is still his leader. Iraq, he told me, will never be the same again. "Up until now, I don’t see a future for Iraq," he said. "What do I feel … I lost hope."   

Saddam had many palaces here in Tikrit near his hometown  –  under his regime Salahuddin province received preferential treatment. 

Like him, many of the people who live here are Sunnis. Now things have changed, people say.

And, like in other Sunni-dominated governorates across Iraq, the threat of a parliamentary election boycott is real if they don’t get what they say is their fair share of representation.

Sheikh Fahd Ouda, a tribal sheikh in Tikrit warned that "the street in all Sunni governorates will listen to us and do what we say".

"We will become the opposition. And all the sons of tribes … are our police and army. So if we boycott it will have an impact on security in the provinces," he said.

The tribes are powerful in these regions – Saddam relied on their support … and many say their engagement in the political process is crucial for stability in Iraq.

The allegiance of the police could come into question if they feel their community is under threat. 

"We have been marginalised in everything not only in politics but in jobs … they don’t listen to us. They treat us as if we are not Iraqis and not living in Iraq," Sheikh Sabar Abed, an elder from the Duleimi tribe said.

His sentiments are shared by many in Tikrit.