The 4th Infantry Division Museum at Fort Hood, Texas, is receiving a bounty of new exhibits thanks to the war in Iraq. The centerpiece is a life-size, $7,700 wax dummy of a hairy, scruffy, hollow-eyed Saddam Hussein, a rendition of his appearance when 4th Infantry troops pulled him out of his "spider hole" in December 2003 in "Operation Red Dawn." According to the museum director, the dummy has taken 18 months to complete because each of its hairs had to be put in place by hand, and Saddam was very hairy.

The new Saddam exhibit will replace an existing photo display, "Captured Like a Rat," and will include a small metal chest that was packed with $750,000 in U.S. $100 bills when it was found in the hole. A future addition, an exact replica of the "spider hole," is expected to be a favorite with children who will be allowed to crawl through it.

These new exhibits join the controversial Memorial To Honor Fallen Task Force Ironhorse Troops, a bronze sculpture made from two melted statues of Saddam. The statue shows an American soldier mourning a fallen comrade, comforted by a small Iraqi girl. It was said to be taken from a photo -- except that there was no Iraqi girl in the photo. And it was originally reported to have be created spontaneously by a grateful Iraqi, but it was later learned to have been sculpted to precise U.S. specifications by an ungrateful Iraqi who had made Saddam statues and who was paid $22,000. [05/08/2005]

February 10, 2012