Tikrit's only boast was that it was the birthplace of the great Muslim conqueror Saladin, who seized Jerusalem from the Crusaders in the 12th century.

Today, Tikrit is once again billed as the birthplace of a great Muslim warrior, this one named Saddam Hussein al Tikriti. Its hospitals, schools and roads are among the best in the country. The Iraqi military has numerous bases there. A permanent amusement park entertains local children. And vast palaces hide behind heavily guarded walls, homes for the man who would retake Jerusalem for the Arabs if he could. Even more than Baghdad, Tikrit is where Hussein is at his strongest. As such, it would likely be the place in Iraq hardest hit by an American military attack. Its people, knowing the town's possible fate, say they are ready to fight back.

"I have a gun, a Kalashnikov," said Mohammed Khaleb, 46, an English teacher and former soldier who was voting in yesterday's presidential referendum in a girls' high school in Tikrit that was being used as a polling station. "All Iraqis have guns. I will fight with all of my might."

Whether Khaleb's words were haki faadi - empty noise - or not, voters in the town that has become the nexus of Hussein's power were displaying unblinking loyalty yesterday to their local hero, the man who has again put Tikrit on the map of the Arab world.

Crowds who greeted foreign journalists at a polling site yesterday chanted: "Against the will of the United States, Saddam Hussein will remain forever."

It would, of course, have been highly unlikely that any resident of the town, which sits 100 miles north of Baghdad on the Tigris river, voted "no" in the referendum yesterday. At the polling station at the girls high school yesterday morning, people took their unfolded, easily viewed voting slips - all marked "yes" - and deposited them in a large wooden box in the center of one room.

"This referendum is very important because everybody in Iraq loves Saddam Hussein," said Ali Hussein, 21, an engineering student who is not related to the president. "South, west, north, east, in every region. I don't think any person would write 'no.' It's impossible."

The referendum's result is a foregone conclusion. Seven years ago, in the last vote, 99.96 percent of the electorate approved another seven years for Hussein, who has been president since 1979.

It was with the help of family and clan members from Tikrit and Al Awja that Hussein ascended to power in the ruling Ba'ath Party.

His first and most influential political mentor was his maternal uncle Khairallah Tulfah, who would later become his father-in-law and a key aide. As a child in 1947, his own father dead, Hussein moved into Tulfah's home. Over the following decades, the two helped each other consolidate the family's influence on Iraqi politics.

They brought with them other members of their Al Khatab clan. Hussein gave senior government positions to his three half-brothers when he became president. His two sons have enormous power. Today, the tribal name Al Tikriti is an automatic symbol of strength in Iraq. Many senior government officials and military officers bear the name.

The town of 60,000 is also famous for its huge shrine to Hussein's late mother, Subha Tulfah al Musallat, also known as the Mother of Militants.

Hussein, 65, still carries around constant physical reminders of his humble, village upbringing: His accent is identifiably Tikriti, and on his right hand are three faded blue dots tattooed on him at an early age, a common ritual for village children.

Just as he elevated himself, so he transformed Tikrit.

"Tikrit is very important," said Khaleb, the teacher. "President Saddam Hussein has made it even more important. If he was not here in Tikrit, it would have a very small importance. He carries its name. He considers Tikrit his mother, the place he was born and grew up in, and now he lives in it."

In fact, Hussein travels constantly between his many palaces in Iraq, some of which are in Tikrit. One of them was visible to the visiting journalists yesterday, a gargantuan complex of sumptuous buildings and gardens.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said last month that if the United States were to attack Iraq, it would concentrate on targeting Iraq's leaders.

That could mean, among other things, targeting the presidential palaces. American officials have said they suspect Hussein of using the complexes to hide chemical and biological weapons.

It could mean bombing the lavish villas on the outskirts of town, perhaps the homes of Hussein's chief aides and important family members. It would certainly mean attacking Tikrit's military bases and anti-aircraft installations.

"Iraq's WMD are under the control of the special security organization," Khidir Hamza, a dissident Iraqi nuclear engineer, testified at a recent congressional hearing. "This is the same group that are charged with Saddam's security. This feared and ruthless organization is mainly composed of conscripts from Saddam's hometown and very loyal tribes in the adjacent areas."

For now, Tikrit remains a place of smoothly paved roads, countless portraits of the president and people who have seen their town hit by American bombs before but seem ready to go through it all again.

"We are not afraid of this," Khaleb said. "If we are bombed, we are sure God will save us. We are innocent, and America attacks us for no reason. Just for petrol and the life of President Saddam Hussein."