In Tikrit, Saddam's memory lives on in watches

[Kadie]

In Tikrit, Saddam's memory lives on in watches
By Sabah al-Bazee
2 hours, 7 minutes ago


TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Five years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, his memory lives on through wrist watches as people in his home town and birth village seek reminders of a time of safety, jobs and cheap living.
In Saddam's home town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, watches featuring an image of the former Iraqi leader on the dial sell like hot cakes to a mostly older crowd, while younger shoppers just like to try them on and pose, watch seller Hamad Younes said.

"People love these Saddam watches," said Younes of the timepieces, which have a starting price of $100 and feature a smiling Saddam in military or Arab dress.

"They never stay in stock more than two or three days. The people of Tikrit love Saddam," he said.

snip...
Nostalgia for Saddam's rule and a longing for a time when many Sunnis reveled in preferential treatment has driven the trade in the watches and other reminders of the Iraqi leader.

"People have started to ask for pictures of Saddam. Saddam mosque asked for a picture to hang above their door, that was the last one I did," said Shayban al-Aloosi, a painter and printer in Tikrit.

snip...
"What did the Americans bring? Hunger, arrests and killing. I wish Saddam was back. We cry for the time of Saddam," said Khodaeiyar Salah, an old man dressed in traditional Arab robes in Tikrit's central marketplace.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080318/wl_nm/iraq_war_awja_dc_1




A vendor displays watches with pictures of Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein in a shop in Tikrit in this March 14, 2008 file photo. Five years after the fall of Hussein, his memory lives on through wrist watches as people in his home town and birth village seek reminders of a time of safety, jobs and cheap living.
(Sabah al-Bazee/Files/Reuters)


Watches with pictures of Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein are on display in a shop in this Tikrit March 14, 2008 file photo. Five years after the fall of Hussein, his memory lives on through wrist watches as people in his home town and birth village seek reminders of a time of safety, jobs and cheap living.
(Sabah al-Bazee/Files/Reuters)

[angrycarpenter]

1. What a rip off

That watch could not have cost more that $20. I was hoping that it was like a mickey mouse watch.