Capsized in a river in southern Iraq, the rusting wreck of a yacht that belonged to Saddam Hussein serves as a stark reminder of his iron-fisted rule that ended with the U.S.-led invasion two decades ago.
The 121-metre "al-Mansur", a symbol of Saddam's wealth and power when it was built in the 1980s, is today a destination for sightseers and fisherman who clamber aboard the wreck to picnic and drink tea.
"When it was owned by the former president, no one could come close to it," said fisherman Hussein Sabahi, who enjoys ending a long day on the river with a cup of tea aboard the wreck.Saddam issued orders for the yacht, which he never boarded, to leave its mooring at Umm Qasr to Basra for safekeeping a few weeks after the invasion got underway on March 20, 2003.
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