Talk:Tikrit

Arbitrary section header
About 2500 Iraqi forces were expected to be defending against the attack - expected by whom? -- Zoe

i heard media reports that the population of this town was 260,000. Are we sure of our number? Rmhermen 16:31 Apr 14, 2003 (UTC)

BBC NEWS reports 260.000 also, and Tikrit is also reported as the last of the major cities in Iraq to fall, Also Fox News reported 260,000

But this source says 28,000 in 2002:
 * http://www.library.uu.nl/wesp/populstat/Asia/iraqt.htm

And this says 29,700 in 2003:
 * http://www.world-gazetteer.com/c/c_iq.htm

This says 30,000:
 * http://www.smh.com.au/handheld/articles/2003/04/11/1049567875716.htm

My conclusion is that the journalists are getting pretty confused, and that "major city" is simply not correct. On the other hand, how could Saddam recruit so many people of hos administration and Republican Guard among a population of just 30,000.

My guess is that they are counting also the surrounding cities:


 * Tikrit 29,700
 * Samarra 201,700
 * ad-Dawr ?
 * Bayji 6,900 in 1965 (!)

Whatever, 30,000 is in the right ballpark. Egil 08:56 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

Calling Saddam 'former President' is a POV
Calling Saddam Hussein either the legitimate or former President of Iraq suggests a non-NPOV. It is not the universal opinion of Iraqis that he is no longer the legal President (IIRC, a survey last month said 45% of Iraqis recognize him) Aminaa
 * Yoy must recognise the difference between what is and what you may believe should be. Saddam is currently not the president of Iraq. He is on trial and in the custody of a different government than his own.  Tewfik Talk 01:44, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, one can make a distinction between de facto and de jure. But in any case it doesn't matter now -- he can't be the president because he's dead. --Saforrest 12:20, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Notable citizens?
I know Saladin and, of course, Saddam Hussein were born here, but I think I need more to start a notable people column. Any others? Imperius iv 19:21, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Abolishing use of surnames
It's not really fair to say Saddam "banished the use of surnames": there is no easy parallel between Arabic names and the Western system. As I understand, the idea of his name reforms were to drop the nisba (i.e. the al-Tikriti part) and turn the second name, originally a patronymic, into a Western-style surname.

This is why his sons were "Uday Hussein" and "Qusay Hussein" as opposed to "Uday Saddam" and "Qusay Saddam": Hussein had now become his and their surname, even though it was initially his father's given name.

That eliminating that nisba had the effect of concealing all the al-Tikritis is indisputable, and I'm sure that's part of why he did it. I'd like to see some more references before we claim outright that this is why he did it, though. --Saforrest 12:39, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Current control of Tikrit
I have been looking at mainstream media websites, such as TIME, BBC, and CNN and so on, and cannot find confirmation that Iraqi security forces have retaken Tikrit. I am not disputing that one source says it happened, and other sources says it 85% happened, but equally there are sources saying the opposite such as a number of towns have been retaken from the rebels, but they still control the key cities of Tikrit and Mosul. Anyway, I'll rephrase the sentence to say there was an attempt to regain the city which resulted in heavy fighting. PhilKnight (talk) 12:14, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

WP:ENGVAR
This edit established the usage of the page as American English. Kindly maintain it consistently pending a new consensus to the contrary. — Llywelyn II   06:09, 11 February 2024 (UTC)