Monday, April 21, 2003		Feature

Toilet rolls from Saddam’s palace go under hammer
Gaurav Sood

SADDAM Hussein is untraceable but has certainly become a celebrity on the cyber auction Website, eBay.com. The former Iraqi dictators’ currency notes, toiletries, clothes and videos are being auctioned for future collection. If the report in Daily Times, a Pakistani newspaper, is to be believed, more than 1,000 of them are at present available for auction.

Iraqi national currency, Dinar, is being considered as the most popular item on the online auction site. A seller is promoting his product (in this case a dinar with Saddam Hussein’s picture) by claiming that the price of ‘this dinar’ is sure to increase once the war is over and the new government takes over. He expects $ 40 for this item.

There are coins and currency bearing Saddam’s photos. A fork from one of the Iraqi presidential palace, with a highest bid of $112.50 also finds a place on this bid portal. If the seller is to be believed the fork ‘slipped’ into his pocket on his last visit to Baghdad. It now becomes a historical fork. "Here you get perhaps the last opportunity to get a personal item out of Saddam’s dining room," the seller advertises.

Another rare item finding many bidders is Saddam’s photograph with his autographs. An exhibit showing Saddam kneeling on a prayer rug got 31 bidders. The bid spiralled from $ 200 to $ 1000.

Even toilet rolls from the royal loo are up for sale at $ 6 a roll. Online buyers can also bid for domain names like issaddamdeadyet. com, which is available for $ 100. Another, www.damnsaddam. com, is being offered at $ 1,500 but there are no bidders yet. One-hour documentary, in Persian and English languages, depicting the killing of 5,000 Kurds by Saddam using chemical weapons are also being bargained for.

According to the Website the supply is being met with the demand ‘quite wonderfully’ as about 1,000 persons searched for Saddam at eBay. Buyers wanting to gather a unique collection may also purchase T-shirts with pictures of the former Iraqi president or videotaped speech of the dictator.

Another site offering Saddam-related stuff on their auction page is yahoo.com. "You are bidding on a 36 card Gulf War Saddam Hussein 1991 set by Potshot Productions," says the site. The set shows Saddam (The Wacky Iraqi) in a host of funny situations and the backs of the cards are puzzle pieces. Cards are of standard size and set in mint condition in original packing. The buy price (minimum bid) is $ 15.