Alan Sipress: Hussein's Portraitist Slips Back Into Picture; Mural Painter Plays Down His Past

"My murals nearly always dealt with Iraqi history. The symbol of the former president was of secondary importance. It was really a very small part of it," he said, trying to change the subject to something other than politics.

This is a different Khalid than the one who boasted two months before the war that he was personally acquainted with Hussein and respected him for "features like cheerfulness, trust, fidelity, strength and absolute belief." In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Khalid said Iraqi artists had not been forced to paint Hussein but chose to do so.

"You need to do patriotic art, and Saddam Hussein is a symbol of the country," Khalid said at the time. "Of course, he is the best symbol, a symbol of the past, present and future."

Now Khalid says he is through painting political leaders.

Lickspittle.