Several thousand Iraqi-Americans partied into the night, celebrating the apparent downfall of the Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein.

Wrapping themselves in the Stars and Stripes, up to 2,000 mostly Iraqi Shi'ite exiles rejoiced in the "liberation" of their homeland as they rallied in a park in this heavily Arab Detroit suburb.

"It's a very emotional day for us," said Modhar Al-Modhar, 33. "We appreciate what Mr Bush and Mr Blair have done for us."

"We've been up all night watching TV but we're not tired," said Ali Il-Sayad, 39, savouring the moment with his twin seven-year old daughters.

"We're too excited to sleep."

"We will go back, Inshallah," said Bayadaa Al-Bayali, a 20-year-old mother-of-two who fled her homeland when she was just 12. "We want to taste freedom in our country."

Chanting "Down with Saddam", the crowd was mostly good natured, but the mood turned tense at one point as dozens of people turned on a camera crew from the Al-Jazeera satellite TV network, accusing them of being against the war.

For many gathered here though, euphoria was mixed with concern for the welfare of relatives back in Iraq -- their fate, for the most part, still unclear because of the interrupted communications with Iraq.

"This is an important day for us," said Mohammed Alhashemi. "I am going to mark it in my diary. The next day I mark in my diary will be the day I speak to my family in Iraq."

The 35-year-old truck driver has seven sisters and almost two dozen nephews and nieces in Samawa, southern Iraq, who he hasn't heard from since the outbreak of hostilities three weeks ago.

"I tried to send them money before the war, so they could go to Syria, but the Iraqi military stopped them leaving," he said. "I hope with all my heart they are still alive."

Earlier in the day, as images of Iraqis tearing down a statue of Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi capital Baghdad flashed around the globe, the Iraqi exiles here poured onto the streets in an impromptu parade.

In the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim neighbourhoods of east Dearborn, 75 to 100 men emerged from homes and businesses to congregate, many with tears streaming down their faces.

Some men chopped a wooden portrait of Hussein to pieces with their hands.

They took turns punching, karate chopping and breaking it over their knees.

An elderly woman draped in a black robe took off her shoe and pounded on it. Some spat; one man splashed hot coffee on the painting.

"Today's the best day of my life," said Ahmad Al-Aboudi, a 16-year-old from Detroit wearing a baseball cap and baggy black jeans. "I've been in America 15 years. This is my best day."

Imam Sayed Hassan Qazwini, the head of the Islamic Centre of America in Detroit, could scarcely find words to express his feelings.

"I am so jubilant and I cannot even express how relieved I am that Saddam is gone," said Qazwini, who supported the war.

He was born in Iraq and said he lost 14 relatives to the Baath party's deadly purges of Shi'ite clerics, so there also was a bittersweet tone to his celebration. "Many of my loved ones died, still dreaming of seeing the end of Saddam," he said.

Arabs from throughout the Middle East, but especially from Iraq, have been migrating to Dearborn since the 1970s, encouraging generation upon generation to follow.

Today, Dearborn claims to have the largest Iraqi diaspora in the world, an estimated 30,000.

At first relegated to assembly line work at the Ford Motor Company and other car factories here, they have branched out into white collar jobs, and entrepreneurship in service stations, convenience stores, bakeries and restaurants.