Saddam Hussein's Favorite Candy Bar (Closed)
Largo, Florida
Nestled in the back of a commercial cul de sac far off the main tourist areas of Tampa/St. Pete, the Armed Forces Military Museum is surprisingly well-formed.
World War II gets most of the floor space, with some expansive displays of Pearl Harbor and D-Day. Theres a World War I trench, a Korean War MASH unit, and some stuff about Viet Nam and Desert Storm.
Where the crowd mills, however, is by an end of the tour life-sized replica of an Iraqi Freedom-era Saddam Hussein.
Hussein is shown in military garb, holding a Mars bar. It was the late dictators favorite candy bar, according to a small sign next to his hand.
The Mars bar has not been sold in the United States since 2000 (Snickers Almond took its place), which, looking back, might have been an overlooked signal of intensifying global tension.
The museum closed on January 29, 2017, announcing it had operated in the red (due to poor visibility in an industrial park and waning public interest) since it first opened in 2008. Founder John J. Piazza, Sr. passed away in October 2016, and without him to make up the annual funding shortfall, the AFHM ceased operations.