Iraqi President Saddam Hussein received groups of singing and dancing children, cut a giant cake and enjoyed parades today as part of celebrations to mark his 64th birthday, the state news agency said.
The festival opened with groups of men, women and school girls in brightly coloured outfits representing provinces of Iraq, dancing and chanting songs in praise of Saddam. There were also some Palestinian costumes.
The celebrations, which included Saddam cutting a giant cake to the tune of Happy Birthday, climaxed with a huge show of support for the man Iraqis see as the leader who will liberate Palestine, the official Iraqi News Agency said (INA).
Tens of thousands of Iraqis chanting "with our soul and blood we redeem you Saddam", paraded at a festival in the Iraqi leader's home town of Tikrit, 170 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad as Iraqi helicopters staged fly-pasts.
The INA said some of the children attending the pageant had come from the northern provinces of Arbeil, Duhouk and Suleimaniya to sing of their affection for Saddam at the Celebrations of Love and Victory .
The mountainous enclave of northern Iraq has been outside Baghdad's control since the end of the 1991 Gulf War and is ruled by Massoud Barzani's KDP and a rival Iraqi Kurdish group.