BAGHDAD, Aug 26: Thousands marched in adoring praise of Iraq’s deposed leader Saddam Hussein on Friday, offering a stark display of the loss of power and leadership felt by some of Iraq’s Sunnis.

Drawing inspiration from the Baath party strongman, who now languishes in jail awaiting trial, marchers in Baquba, 65kms northeast of Baghdad, danced and chanted his name and condemned plans by the Shia and Kurdish-led government to push through draft constitution to create a federal Iraq.

They accused the Shia leaders in government of kowtowing to Iran and the United States, which backs the government with some 140,000 troops.

“Bush, Bush, listen well; We all love Saddam Hussein!” crowds chanted. “We reject the American and Iranian constitution” and “No to a constitution that breaks up Iraq,” their placards read.

For Sunnis, the draft’s vision of a federal state is a prelude to dismembering a country whose unity they believe had its most loyal defenders in Saddam and his Baath party.

Located in central Iraq, they have traditionally considered themselves the backbone of the Iraqi state though they are outnumbered by Shias.—Reuters