The grossly bloated personality cult constructed around the "great leader" -- a supposed mix of Saladin the liberator of Jerusalem and Babylonian legend Nebuchadnezzar -- fell apart as fast as US forces conquered Baghdad the "impregnable".

Even if he is still alive, the manner of his fall, the failure of his much-vaunted army to put up a fight and the sudden collapse of the brutal Baath regime will forever tarnish the story of a life extraordinary.

Saddam, the poor boy born in a mudhut village who came to live in the grandest of palaces, dared to defy the US hyperpower one time too many.

He paid the ultimate price in defeat and disgrace, his statues trampled into the dust, his gloating ubiquitous portraits torn to shreads and set ablaze.

The 65-year-old Arab nationalist, who declared his determination to die at home and taunted enemies with outrageous bravado, may yet wage a final, futile battle ensuring the destruction of his hometown of Tikrit.

But that will only delay the last judgement of a man who carried defiance into a surreal world where each defeat became a victory and every disaster a celebration.

His last hurrah was played out on the streets of Baghdad a week ago when the president went walkabout before the cameras of state television in a propaganda stunt he had not dared to try in years.

Those years after he seized absolute power in 1979 saw the cradle of civilisation and a modern Arab power transformed into an impoverised, outlaw state that had squandered fabulous oil and human wealth.

At first supported in his military adventures when Iran's mullahs were the target, the tide turned against him in the West when thousands of Kurds were gassed to death 15 years ago.

Saddam guided Iraq through the 1980-1988 bloodbath with Iran and the rout of the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, emerging each time to claim Pyrrhic victories astride the corpses of his people.

Disarmament through the United Nations failed as he clung to an arsenal of weapons that threatened Israel.

The United States and Britain unleashed four nights of hi-tech missile terror and destruction in December 1998. US missile strikes in 1996 and twice in 1993 also ensured the regime remained isolated under crushing UN sanctions.

A lust for power matched only by a ruthless streak brought Saddam to the helm he determined never to leave, whatever the cost.

He had suppressed uprisings in the south and north after the 1991 Gulf War and first made a name trying to murder Iraqi leader Abdul Karim Kassem in 1959.

Saddam, wounded in the leg, fled abroad but returned four years later and was jailed in 1964. Within two years he escaped and resumed clandestine work for the nationalist Baath party cause.

In 1968 he took part in the coup which brought the party to government, marking the start of Saddam's affair with brute power.

He was already considered the regime's real force in the shadow of President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr.

Party deputy secretary general Saddam Hussein, born April 28, 1937, became vice-president of the all-powerful Revolution Command Council in 1969.

Bakr was losing his grip over the next decade as Saddam strengthened his own and the president finally retired for health reasons.

Saddam seized the crown on July 16, 1979, becoming State President, general secretary of the party and the revolution command council.

He brooked no dissent, extending frequent purges of senior figures to family and friends. Even potential opponents seldom lasted long. Those who failed to find exile lie buried.

The cruelty of the state is amply documented by rights groups. Informers were encouraged, the media muzzled and few if any dared voice criticism.

"He who inspires fear", but once failed to win a place for officer training, assumed all the trappings of state, taking the title of field marshal and commander-in-chief of an army he led to decimation.

Obsessive paranoia over security and a life of secrecy have kept him alive, but US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote him off Wednesday along with the greatest tyrants the world has seen.

"Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful place alongside (Adolf) Hitler, (Joseph) Stalin, (Vladimir) Lenin and (Romanian dictator Nicolae) Ceausescu in the pantheon of failed, brutal dictators," Rumsfeld said.

For the first time in years, there will be no celebrations in Iraq this April 28 to mark his birthday.

SPACE.WIRE