Saddam turns 69 behind bars

His birthday attracted little of the frenzy the date once engendered when it was celebrated as a national holiday during his 24 years of strong-armed rule from 1979 to 2003.

US officials were tight-lipped about what Saddam was up to on his birthday.

"We don't have much interest in providing any colour to Saddam's life," a US military spokesman told AFP.

Even in his hometown of Tikrit, Saddam's birthday passed unnoticed, although a few dozen posters bearing his portrait were seen in the majority Sunni city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.