Larger than life

‘‘I wouldn’t believe he was dead even if I saw his body on television,’’ said Aboud Muttar, 60, a shepherd. ‘‘I won’t believe it unless I see it with my own eyes.’’ The news this week that one of Saddam’s suspected lairs was hit by 2,000-pound American bombs, followed by reports he was killed, followed by other reports that he wasn’t, have only added to Iraqi scepticism. People here can be forgiven for taking rumours of the dictator’s demise with a grain of Arabian Sea salt.

Despite dozens of coup and assassination attempts, and top-of-the-hit-list status at many overseas spy agencies, Saddam has endured.

‘‘He has seven lives,’’ said Ahmed Ali, 23. ‘‘You can’t kill him.’’ As one tale would have it, that’s because of the gem in his arm, which some say is red, some blue. It is said to have been tested on a chicken, which lost just a few feathers when shot at point-blank range.

‘‘I first heard about it around the time he took power,’’ said retiree Jasim Waay, 54. ‘‘Is it strong enough to work against the British and American military? Only God knows for sure.’’

A mother’s love — and her ability to weave powerful spells — has protected Saddam with a magic aura, another legend goes. ‘‘He’s in touch with the occult,’’ said Saad Abdel Reda, 19, a farmer. ‘‘And he has fortune-tellers tap into the spirit world and tell him when people are trying to kill him.’’

Other bits of folklore bolster his reputation for brutality and cunning. In one, a soldier standing five rows behind the President attempted to kill him, but his gun jammed. Saddam calmly walked over to the soldier, grabbed the weapon and said, ‘‘This is how you do it,’’ before shooting him dead.

Then there was the citizen who spat on his television screen whenever the President’s face appeared. This went on for years, until the man and his daughter saw the President in person, at a parade. ‘‘That’s the man you always spit on,’’ the little girl said, at which point soldiers within earshot took him away and executed him.

Mohamed Sadek, a 43-year-old teacher, believes the regime has fueled the fables to keep Iraqis in check. ‘‘That way he seems stronger and keeps people scared,’’ he said. Others ascribe his ability to survive to plain old paranoia.

Saddam is known to sleep in a different location every night, trust only a few in his inner circle, periodically purge his honour guards and rely on relatives who are themselves subject to execution.

Saddam is also said to employ at least seven doubles, leading to widespread ‘‘Where’s Waldo’’ media speculation each time his image appears on state television. Is it the real Saddam or a stand-in? Is the footage fresh or shot before the war?

‘‘No one ever sees him so there aren’t many chances to kill him,’’ said Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, 53. The fact that Saddam was written off by many during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, only to come roaring back to exact revenge against his critics, has made Iraqis wary. Even if he’s out of power, if he’s out there somewhere, many will remain terrified.

‘‘How can we really be sure he’s gone for good?’’ asked Hassam Sahar, 45, an engineer. ‘‘We can’t trust the US and Britain. They left once before.’’ The tall tales of Saddam’s power have dovetailed with an overactive propaganda machine that presents him as superhuman—a great engineer, tremendous hunter, expert marksman, world-class swimmer, brave fighter, brilliant equestrian and standard-bearer for the Ara world. ‘‘His picture is everywhere — on our schoolbooks, our mosques, government buildings and our money,’’ said Karim Kasem, 34.

As Iraqis learn that US troops have thundered into Baghdad and their government is on the run, they have started speculating on what move the big man might do next. Some say he would stay and fight to the death. Others think he’d take his own life rather than suffer the indignity of being paraded before the world, perhaps even tried at The Hague for war crimes. ‘‘He’d rather commit suicide than be caught,’’ said Badi Saleh Abdullah, a shepherd tending his flock along the road near Azubair, in southern Iraq.

Others say it will never come to that because he’s long gone. They believe he fled even before the war started, knowing that his own people would tear him apart if they got a hold of him. ‘‘I don’t think they’ll be able to kill him,’’ said Sadek, the teacher. ‘‘He’ll get away, like Osama bin Laden. He’s had lots of time to plan his escape.’’

As news reports pour in of Saddam Hussein statues being toppled, government officials and paramilitary fighters fleeing, and the nation’s biggest cities falling to Coalition troops, however, many Iraqis say they are finally starting to believe he is vulnerable. ‘‘Every human being has a set lifetime,’’ said Ali Abdul Wahed, 35. ‘‘Even Mussolini and Hitler fell eventually.’’ (LAT-WP)