Calling all would-be suicide bombers, jihadis, and all other Arabs interested in killing some infidels: free bus rides to Iraq! Such a deal. (Hat tip: Rand Simberg.)

AMMAN, Jordan, March 31 (AFP) - A first free bus to Baghdad left the Jordanian capital Monday, courtesy of one of Saddam Hussein’s sons, with 50 Iraqi men onboard determined to fight for their embattled country against US and British invaders.

“It was too expensive for me to leave before, but now the trip is free and I am going back to fight for my country,” said Samir, a 35-year-old construction worker.

The man said he was going back to Basra, the main southern Iraqi city partially controlled by the coalition forces and where pockets of Iraqi resistance still remain.

“I am not afraid to travel from Baghdad to Basra, the Americans say they control part of Iraq but it’s all lies, they only got the port of Umm Qasr,” he defiantly added.

An Iraqi spokesman for the Dalla bus company, which people here say is owned by Saddam Hussein’s son Uday, said it was the first free bus bound to Baghdad since the US-led war began on March 20.

“A one-way trip costs 12 dinars (17 dollars), but today for the first time the trip is free,” he said on condition of anonymity, adding that similar buses were also leaving from Syria.

“Everybody can go back, there are absolutely no restrictions,” he said.

Men waiting to board the bus said some had been granted a pardon by the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime and issued a new passport.

See? Saddam’s not such a bad guy! Why, he’ll even grant pardons to defectors!