Saddam's bed waiting for honeymoon couples

London, Apr 5: It might sound a bit eccentric, but Iraq is offering Saddam Hussein's palatial boudoir to newlyweds to make their first night extra special.

The ex-dictator's bedroom is on offer for 150-pound a night. At the moment Hussein's presidential palace, which includes Roman columns, chandeliers and gargantuan bathrooms, is undergoing renovation in the town of Hillah, some 60 miles south of Baghdad.

"We hope that many people will visit," The Times quoted a tourism official, as saying.

The palace is one of several reserved for the exclusive pleasure of the dictator, who was deposed in 2003 and executed in 2006.

Till 2005, the mansion was occupied by US troops.

However, now outlying buildings that used to house soldiers from Saddam's special guard have been turned into luxury hotel rooms with televisions and king-size beds.

"I've been here three years and I can't tell you how many bedrooms or bathrooms there are," said Abdul Satar Naji, in charge of security at the palace.

The honeymoon offer, however, has received mixed reviews from Iraqis.

"I don't think it would be an easy thing for newlyweds to sleep on the bed of a dead person," said Khalid Al-Lizan, an Iraqi who recently went on his honeymoon to Syria.

ANI