Taha Bidaywi Hamed is an Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i politician. He was elected by local tribal leaders to lead the town council of Fallujah

Fallujah

Fallujah is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jewish academies for many centuries....

 on April 30, 2003. The position had been vacant after the previous administrators - loyal to Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's regime - fled to avoid being caught up in the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

.

Described as strongly pro-American, Hamed blamed Baathist officers for provoking anti-US sentiments in the city. However when seven US soldiers were injured in a series of grenade attacks in early May, he was quoted as stating that the general population wished for the troops to leave the city, because they were occupying a Baathist headquarters.