TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Christmas came early this year for some 30,000 U.S. troops in Tikrit who caught ousted president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) near his own home town a week ago -- and how better to celebrate than with a captivating card?

The Saddam Santa card features a picture of the heavily bearded former dictator as he looked when he was pulled from his hiding hole last weekend -- except Saddam is dolled up in a Father Christmas hat and his whiskers are whiter than white.

This photograph and others like it are springing up as decorations around the barracks of a U.S. army unit in Iraq (news - web sites) and have become popular as greeting cards.

"First Battalion, 22nd Infantry wishes you a very Merry Christmas!" reads the card which is also decorated with the battalion's insignia.

Pictures of Saddam taken after he was pulled out of a hole in the ground nine miles south of Tikrit drew criticism from the Vatican (news - web sites) which said they were degrading, but have proven an easy target for soldiers who regard him as an evil dictator.

"The fact that we have captured Saddam makes the ending of the year a lot better than the uncertainty of the beginning," said battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Steven Russell who sent one of the cards back home to Oklahoma.

His card may not arrive in time as post from the northern Iraqi town takes around three weeks to reach the United States.

Mail from loved ones, back home at bases in Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Carson, Colorado, has poured in for several days in the run up to the holidays.

Rough Translation of a poem from the book L'OFFENSIVE DES ARDENNES by Eddy Monfort

MANHAY

At All Costs

Where are the worthy GI's running who liberated us,
They have their tanks, the Germans, with their equipment,
Have been driven back. They seemed powerful,
Invincible soldiers, masters for a very long time.

Each time the return of the occupying forces is precise.
For the veteran of the underground the decision has been made.
Once again, in the Ardennes, there will be vengeance.
Flee people of the maquis, avoid judgment.

Civilians have left, replaced by soldiers.
Speedily, they have been crowded into truck beds.
Since Reims, in the rain, turning points, chaos,
For parachutists, what hell, no planes, no trucks!

They were forewarned...in the winter by the fire.
A surplus of potatoes, bacon, eggs.
The front has been made right. Manhay is in the middle.
The site can be razed. Order to leave the area.

The bolt on Fraiture has suddenly been released.
Spreading out toward Manhay, grenadiers and tanks.
Evening descending on the Ardenne obscures
The steel worms spitting their fire bursts

Suddenly, from behind the low clouds , the moon appears,
Unveiling the barrages, a chance for the enemy.
Under a pale halo, appears the reply.

Nine tanks will be destroyed, the snow has betrayed them.
This Christmas Eve, will be the breakthrough.
In the radio silence, for the imposed retreat,
An audacious Panzer, between two Shermans, slips in.
Spreading terror…a feat of great audacity.

The artillery intervenes from Monchenoul to Deux-Rys
In three days the batteries will destroy the dwelling
Through numerous battles, until body to body,
Face to face with the enemy, their fate is sealed.

The region liberated, the village retaken,
The spoils of the sinister building will be counted.
Where have the sheets gone, still so well-folded?
On a slain soldier, is where they will be found.

Friends have left in pursuit of the enemy.
But the heroic Ardenne regains his courage.
The meadows are cleansed and the lodging is rebuilt.
At vespers they tell the tale of this hard, cursed winter.

Today, the village, fixed like a terrace
on the side of the green massif where violent winds brew,
Has found peace, let us hope, forever.
Manhay, her story, her central square: it was well worth the detour.

Manhay "cost what it may". The alarm has sounded…and the order has come
Down.
Hold at all costs-"Tenir coute que coute"

Emile PIRARD