Iraqi singer who glorified Saddam shot dead
Musicians and artists gathered by Daoud al-Qaissi (r), the head of the Artists' Union, sing a song in praise of then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the making of a music video in the center Baghdad 23 March 2003. AFP PHOTO/Ramzi HAIDAR
BAGHDAD (AFP) A famous Iraqi singer who used to glorify deposed president Saddam Hussein was assassinated by unidentified armed men in his Baghdad home, neighbors told AFP.
"I saw three people driving in a pickup truck around the neighborhood. At 6:45 pm, one of them came to the gate of the garden where Daoud al-Qaissi was standing and started talking to him," Samir Doush said.
"He was joined by an accomplice who fired at Qaissi's head. The bullet pierced through the glass of the house," he said, adding that the three then sped away.
Qaissi, who was in his fifties, headed the union of Iraqi artists, and had mobilized singers, poets, actors and painters during the US-led war on Iraq to sing the praises of the Baath regime and the army.
After the war, which led to Saddam's ouster on April 9, "we advised him to leave the house, but he refused, saying he would die some day anyway, whether here or somewhere else," Doush said.
In another incident demonstrating the lawlessness into which Baghdad has descended, the deputy dean of the science faculty at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University was recently shot dead by students, a Kurdish official told AFP.
"Falah Dulaimi was shot dead because he harassed female students," said Adel Murad of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
A US official here confirmed the murder but gave no details about its circumstances.