IRAQ: No song for a tyrant

The pop-disco group Boney M's 1978 recording of "Rivers of Babylon" was a hit in the U.S., Europe and some Arab countries.

It's adapted from Psalm 137 in the Bible and speaks of longing for Zion and freedom.

Saddam Hussein took offense and banned the song in his captive country.

Tariq abd Wahab Jasim was in Hussein's army and had to obey his commands. Now Hussein's gone and Jasim is a major-general in the new Iraqi army and is teamed with the U.S. Marines in the western part of Al Anbar province.

Each night, Jasim and his military advisor, Marine Col. Robert Castellvi, get together to discuss military matters and share their love for music from the 1970s. One of Jasim's favorites is "Rivers of Babylon."

"He would kill me if he knew I was singing this," Jasim says of the deposed tyrant before launching into a verse or two:

"When the wicked carried us away in captivity

Required from us a song

Now how shall we sing the Lord's song

In a strange land."

— Tony Perry in Habbaniya

Photo: The group Boney M, in 1978. Credit: L.A. Times files.