Tikrit, Iraq ? Saddam Hussein’s hometown loyalists celebrated his 66th birthday Monday with blood oaths and vows of devotion, three weeks after the U.S. military drove him from power. In Baghdad, residents scorned the ousted leader and swapped rumors that he would surface for a final birthday attack.

For the first time in a generation, Saddam’s birthday passed with no official fanfare, no compulsory celebration — and no Saddam. For many Iraqis, that was just fine.

“Saddam and his birthday were a black cloud over Iraq. We all want peace and freedom. He deprived us of these things,” said Moayed al-Duleimi, 37, a guard in Baghdad.

The deposed Iraqi president, whereabouts and health unknown, was last seen in early April as U.S. forces converged on Baghdad. American forces, who have been trying to kill or capture him, are still searching.

Since 1985, Saddam turned his birthday into a public event that fueled his cult of personality. Official celebrations often involved lavish productions, odes to the genius of his leadership and such oddities as the burning of the Israeli flag.

In Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, supporters and fellow al-Tikriti clansmen said his memory would endure longer than the presence of American forces in Iraq.

“Happy Birthday” graffiti was scrawled in several places, and some members of Saddam’s clan sat quietly in the house where he was born.

“Saddam Hussein is one of the great Arabic leaders,” said Abdullah Ialeh Hussein, who identified himself as Saddam’s cousin. “The Americans have occupied us, but we will continue to support him.”

Not far away, Staff Sgt. Bob Garr said troops occupying Tikrit were proceeding with caution. “Today being Saddam’s birthday, we are aware and trying to keep more alert,” Garr said. “But other than that, this is just a regular operation.”

Iraqi men burn a portrait of Saddam Hussein, on which they drew horns to depict him as a devil, just north of Basra, Iraq. The picture was burned Monday, which would have been Saddam's 66th birthday if he's still alive.

About 200 people marched through Tikrit, chanting, “With our blood and souls we shall redeem you, Oh Saddam,” a chant which was a fixture at state-sponsored events for years. Some carried pictures of him. “Down, down Bush!” they said in English.

In Baghdad, 100 miles south, public solidarity with Saddam was nonexistent.

One ragged man carried a placard aloft down Saddoun Street depicting the overthrown leader with horns and neck noose. “This is your birthday. Shame on you,” it read.

For days, Baghdad has been rife with rumors that Saddam planned to unleash unspecified violence upon the city to mark his birthday. There was no evidence that such a plan was afoot, and nothing had happened by nightfall.

“How can he do anything to hurt us now that we are free?” said Hussein al-Khafaji, an Iraqi air force colonel.

“Whenever we had those elections for president, everyone voted for him 100 percent,” al-Khafaji said. “And today nothing will happen, and this will prove that none of us liked him, not a one.”