US President George W Bush is boasting of an unusual piece of memorabilia brought back from Iraq: the pistol clutched by Saddam Hussein when he was discovered by American soldiers in a spider hole outside his home town after the war.
Military officials had the handgun mounted after it wasseized from the dishevelled and disoriented Iraqi dictator in his underground hideout in Dawr last December.
The soldiers involved in the capture later presented it to the US President, who keeps it in a small study off the Oval Office, where he keeps his favourite mementoes, according to Time magazine.
He also keeps there a photograph of US Special Forces in Afghanistan praying after burying a piece of the World Trade Centre destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
It is the same room where former president Bill Clinton used to have his trysts with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
"He really liked showing it off," a White House visitor who had seen the gun was quoted as saying.
"He was really proud of it."Mr Bush has told select visitors that the gun was unloaded when Saddam was captured - contrary to reports at the time. It is still empty.
The fallen dictator is awaiting trial, in an undisclosed location, for crimes against humanity.
