CAIRO,
April 9 (IslamOnline.net) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his top
aides resorted to the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, Saddam’s
birthplace, just 48 hours after the U.S. troops had poured into Baghdad,
Shiite opposition sources told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, April 9.
“The
Iraqi president took the decision after the Iraqi troops failed to
defend Saddam’s international airport captured by the Americans and
its surrounding area,” they said.
The
pulling back of the Iraqi troops was obvious over the past two days
particularly when the word spread that Saddam, his top aides and a lot
of Iraq’s elite Republican Guard units, they added.
The
sources attributed the chaos that spread in some areas in Baghdad to the
fact that people of areas such as Al-Thwra district controlled by the
Shiite opposition took to the streets to express their jubilation at the
collapse of the Iraqi regime.
The
sources, however, said that there were other areas enveloped by grief
and silence, while a lot of shops shut down their doors.
Battle
Still Raging
The
same sources said that the battle is still raging although the U.S.
troops poured into the heart of Baghdad.
They
said that despite of the images broadcasted by TV screens about Iraqis
celebrating the U.S. troops in Baghdad, there are still Iraqi resistance
pockets across other Iraqi cities, asserting that the U.S. troops would
commit a blunder if they thought that they put an end to the gritty
Iraqi resistance.
“The
Iraqi president is supported by a number of Iraqi tribes, not to mention
the Republican Guard and a myriad of paramilitary Fedayeen, who still
control some parts of Iraq,” they said.
Life
of Saddam
Other
Kurdish opposition sources said that Saddam’s plan has shifted from
defending Baghdad into protecting the life of the Iraqi president,
hoping for a miracle that would prolong the war.
“Saddam’s
aides ping hopes on an international action and the arrival of Arab
volunteers to Baghdad,” they explained.
They
further said a part of the Iraqi president’s plan is currently based
on taking shelter in his home town of Tikrit and get the U.S. troops
bogged down in urban fighting.
“This
is exactly what the Iraqi president and his aides want: he tries to
incite the Iraqi people against the U.S. tight stranglehold around their
country and urge them to fight them off…Then, the Iraqi president will
emerge from his hideout to resist the U.S. troops,” they added.
Rumors
have been circulated in Iraq that the U.S. troops are trying to hammer
out a deal with the Iraqi president by which they would guarantee his
safety in return for winning the sympathy of the Iraqi people and ease
their stiff resistance.
