An Iraqi singer whose fervently pro-Saddam Hussein songs made him a well-known face on Iraqi television has been killed, his family says. Daoud al-Qaissi, a Baath party member, was shot by gunmen outside his home in central Baghdad, his brother told Reuters news agency. Videos of his songs were played constantly on Iraqi state television even as the coalition-led bombing campaign intensified over the Iraqi capital. His son told Britain's Guardian newspaper that he was certain his father had been killed because of his connections to the ousted Iraqi leader's regime.
| Another dead syncophant. How sad. |
"My father was one of the president's supporters. He believed in him," his son said. "This [the killing] is a natural consequence of the lack of security in Baghdad. Now all his friends are scared, some of them are too frightened even to come to the funeral." |