JUBILANT Iraqis celebrate their new-found freedom yesterday -- by tearing down a statue of hated tyrant Saddam Hussein.

Hundreds begged US troops to help tie a rope around the 17ft high bronze figure and take a blowtorch to its ankles.

Then they pulled -- and whooped with delight as the statue crashed to the ground.

The symbolic scene came after the 101st Airborne division -- known as the Screaming Eagles -- freed the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala, killing 400 Republican Guards and capturing 100 more.
...
First, an American welder spent an hour weakening the statue.Then locals hauled until the rope snapped. Another was fixed in place, and many among the watching thousands applauded as Saddam fell head first on to a stepped podium above a pool of water.

Scores clambered over the statue and beat it with shoes or anything else they could grab.

One onlooker said: "It's very good because we don't like it."

An elderly man added in broken English: "Good, good, good -- Mr W. Bush, no Saddam."

As US troops proudly wore flowers given to them by townsfolk, a 25-year-old said he could not understand opposition to the war.

He asked: "Everyone who refuses this war -- why?"

Pointing to the statue, he went on: "Come here and live two days with this man, and then refuse this war."

» The Sun Newspaper Online - Iraqis celebrate freedom