] UMM QASR, Iraq -- Ahmed Ali believes Saddam Hussein can ] never die. All his life, the 23-year-old laborer has ] heard about the dictator's powerful stone. ] ] Saddam, the story goes, had the stone made shortly ] after he came to power 24 years ago. Its powers were ] first tested inside a chicken. One of his soldiers pulled ] out a gun and shot at point-blank range. The chicken's ] feathers fell off, but it lived. ] ] So the dictator implanted the stone in his upper arm. ] ] As the curtain falls on Saddam's reign, many ordinary ] Iraqis are reluctant to believe that their much-feared ] dictator has lost power, much less that he is actually ] dead. Stories abound of Saddam's mystical powers that ] have helped him elude assassination attempts and missile ] strikes. ] ] "The stone makes him bulletproof," Ali, a slim man ] with a Saddam-style moustache, said in a serious voice. Talk about urban legends . . . Myths About Saddam Fuel the Fears of Iraqis |