Saddam’s gun is Bush trophy

A HANDGUN that Saddam Hussein was clutching when US forces captured him in a hole in Iraq last December is now kept by US President George Bush at the White House.

Military officials had the pistol mounted after it was seized from Saddam near his hometown of Tikrit last year. Soldiers involved in the capture gave it to Mr Bush in a private meeting, Time magazine reported.

The magazine quoted a visitor who had been shown the gun, which is kept in a small study off the Oval Office. It is the same room where former President Bill Clinton had some of his encounters with former intern Monica Lewinsky.

The President shows Saddam's gun to select visitors, telling them it is unloaded, both now and when Saddam was captured.

“He really liked showing it off,” Time quoted a visitor who had seen the gun. “He was really proud of it.”

A White House spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

In northwest Baghdad yesterday, gunmen attacked three civilian vehicles carrying foreigners, killing two Westerners and seizing three others, witnesses and police at the scene said.

Two of the four-wheel-drive vehicles, of the type used by foreign contractors, employees of the US-led administration and some media in Iraq, appeared to have collided after coming under fire on a main highway, and two bodies could be seen.

Locals and police said the attackers had dragged away three survivors of the attack. Their fate was unknown.

In one of the cars, a dark-coloured sports utility vehicle, both front airbags had inflated and were stained red with blood. Bloodstains were also soaked into the back seat.

After the attack, locals set the two vehicles ablaze, and later shooting erupted between gunmen and police.

In April, dozens of foreigners were taken hostage on Baghdad's highways. Most were released, but some are still being held and at least two were killed.