Iraqis 'vote' for Hussein – and against the US

Manal Badr voted for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein Tuesday with more than her ballot – she sealed her loyalty with her blood.

"We are free because we love our president," said the round-faced education student at a chaotic, crowded polling station in Tikrit, the city closest to the village where Mr. Hussein was born.

Ms. Badr proudly displayed the pin she used to prick her left thumb before daubing the "yes" box on the ballot, which asks: "Do you agree that Saddam Hussein should fulfill the post of president of Iraq?"

Blood vows and well-practiced cries of allegiance were the order of the day Tuesday as journalists and foreign dignitaries were escorted by Iraq's Ministry of Information to polling centers around the country.

Poll results weren't available at press time, but were hardly in doubt. At the last vote of this kind in 1995, Hussein received 99.96 percent of the votes.

This referendum, say officials here, is as much about rejecting American plans to attack Iraq, as it is about affirming support for their leader. "[George] Bush is a terrorist and a warmonger, because he attacks Iraq and other Arab countries," says Badr, adhering to a well-known line.

The tone was the same at several polling stations visited by two bus loads of Western journalists in Tikrit – with its date palm fronds, luxury presidential palace buildings along the Tigris River, and ring of plainly visible surface-to-air missile batteries.

This region is the seat of Saddam's power. Many of his top ministers come from his clan.

Saddam was born in the village of Ouja, and it is here in this city 100 miles north of Baghdad that the biggest celebrations take place every April 28 to mark the event that has changed Iraq's history. At the gates of the city, visitors are greeted by a large portrait of Hussein. A few feet to the left, a fountain with splashing water – a symbol of power and wealth throughout the parched Middle East – marks the leader's home turf.

The name Saddam means "he who confronts." While Iraqis sometimes will privately express dislike for his leadership, there was little deviation from the official line in Tikrit or elsewhere in Iraq yesterday.

Crowds of voters danced and chanted pro-Hussein slogans, energized at the approach of foreign journalists. A festive atmosphere permeated the official proceedings. Many voting stations were set up like traditional wedding celebrations, with colorful carpets and tents lined with rows of plastic chairs for postvoting pontificating.

"We consider this day a war against America," declared Hamza Ali, a Baath Party official in al-Dawr, a desert town south of Tikrit. "America and England are the enemies of Iraq. We are steady with Saddam against these enemies."

In southern Iraq, a region where Shiite Muslims staged an unsuccessful rebellion in 1991, the public mood was similar.

At an elementary school on the dusty outskirts of Najaf, a city of perhaps a million people, a judge of the local court presided over the polling. A poster of Hussein was propped on a chair in front of a single, chest-high ballot box. Colorful paper garlands and a banner extolling Hussein adorned the walls.

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