Saddam's powerbase braces for US-led attack

For decades, Tikrit has enjoyed the trappings that come with being the birthplace and powerbase of Saddam Hussein. It is from this region, and its tight-knit clan, that he draws his most senior military, security and civil advisers, the place he can expect to find loyal support if all else falls.

But this privileged and special position now puts Tikrit in the direct line of American fire, which will be directed to inflict a severe practical and psychological blow against the Iraqi leader.

The hierarchy of the Special Security Organisation, in charge of President Saddam's personal security, and the alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, the Americans and Iraqi exiles say, are all hand-picked Tikritis who maintain armouries and communications bases.

The people of the town and its hinterland, about 120 miles north of Baghdad, are too aware of what is in store. They were targeted in the 1991 Gulf War, in which a number of buildings were destroyed and four people killed, and also during Operation Desert Fox in 1998, when 28 people were killed and 34 were injured.

But this time, with George Bush determined on a regime change, they fear a devastating onslaught.

Tikrit, on the river Tigris, is also the birthplace of the great Saladin, the victorious Seljuk Turk commander against the Crusaders, a hero of President Saddam, and whose mantle as a leader against the West the Iraqi President seeks.

Nowhere is the cult of President Saddam so overwhelming. Earlier this year, thousands celebrated his 65th birthday here, chanting "Bush, Bush, listen well, we all love Saddam Hussein".

In Tikrit, the leader's picture hangs from every lamp post on the main street. One in three public buildings bears his name. The newest mosque finished three months ago, in blue and cream and shaped like a blancmange, was built by the Iraqi leader in honour of his father, Hussein al-Majid Abdul Ghofar. The adjacent cemetery is for members of his extended family.

President Saddam was born in April 1937 in a district called Al-Awja. After the death of his father, his mother remarried, to a man called Ibrahim Hassan. The couple took Saddam and his three half-brothers to be brought up in Baghdad.

Unhappy at home, Saddam went to live with his uncle Khairallah Tulfah, a former lieutenant in the army. Saddam married his daughter, Sajida, who bore him two sons and a daughter.

The deputy governor, Mohammed Yasin Mahmood, and the city director, Amar el-Amari, take us to the governor's large and airy office. It has six photographs of the President, as well as one of his pistols in a large glass case.

Mr Mahmood said: "This the birthplace of Saladin as well as Saddam Hussein, so it is very symbolic. The Americans dropped the atom bomb on Nagasaki, which was the birthplace of the Japanese emperor. Tikrit will be targeted for the same reason."

Mr Amari said: "This city is looked upon with respect by all Iraqis. It was in the heart of the uprising against the British in 1920 and before that it has been in the route of a lot of invasions. We have survived and we have, in time, defeated the invaders. We shall do the same again with the British again and the Americans when they come."

At his chemist's shop, Jalil Ibrahim Abdullah, aged 70, is also waiting for a war: "I saw the bombing in 1991 and 1998. People got killed, but the Americans do not care .... I know we are going to be targeted, but there is no point in fleeing anywhere. I am an old man, I was born in Tikrit and I shall die here."