Iraq plans to open Saddam museum

Iraq plans to open a museum filled with weapons, statues, paintings, furniture and artefacts that belonged to the nation's toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, officials told AFP on Saturday. The items collected and catalogued in the six years since the US-led invasion are being handed back to the Iraqi government, which will consider a site for what would undoubtedly become a major attraction.
"These possessions are for the Iraqi people," said Abdul Zahraa al-Talqani, a tourism and antiquities ministry spokesman, adding that a committee would be formed to find a site for the museum. "We will look for a big building. I think one of the presidential palaces in Baghdad probably will be the place of the museum," said Talqani, noting that clothes, documents and various gifts given to Saddam by foreign leaders were among the possessions. "This is what was found after the invasion," he added.