Coalition eyes razing of Saddam hiding place

By: Hamoud Kufi

AD DAWR, Iraq: To the bemusement of many Iraqis, the US military wants to destroy the hole where the former Iraqi president Saddam was captured before it has yet to become a tourist attraction.

Images of a bearded and dishevelled Saddam taken shortly after his capture in a tiny subterranean chamber, have already become potent symbols of the ignominious demise of a once powerful leader.

Now the US military fears that the hole's location beneath an unassuming farmhouse in the small town of Ad Dawr, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, will attract the same level of interest and wants to demolish it before the curious hordes descend.

A spokeswoman for the US 4th Infantry Division, which patrols Ad Dawr and the surrounding area, said her superiors were lobbying for the site to be razed.

END