Hussein's Babylon: A Beloved Atrocity (Published 2003)

In the realm of Saddam Hussein kitsch, it is hard to compete with Babylon.

The Iraqi leader found the squat, khaki-colored nubs of earth and scattered stacks of bricks left over from one of history's glorious empires somehow lacking, far too mundane to represent the 2,500-year sweep of Mesopotamian history that was to be reborn through his rule.

So he ordered one of the three original palaces rebuilt.

Never mind that nobody really knows what the imposing palaces looked like. Nor did Mr. Hussein pay much heed to the fact that the archaeological world cried foul -- deriding his project as Disney for a Despot -- because he was violating their sacred principle of preserving rather than recreating.

But as with many moves by Mr. Hussein, the end result garnered great populist appeal and hence he will probably have the last word on the fate of the famous ruins.

The name Babylon rang with deep significance for Iraqis long schooled in their role as descendants of the people who more or less invented civilization. What remained here was little more than rubble, however, because the prize pieces had long since been carted off to European museums.

Once the $5 million replica was finished, though -- at lightning speed, with construction crews working in three shifts toward the end -- everybody could see that it was a palace.

''I don't like it,'' said Lamia Gaylani, an Iraqi art historian who has returned after decades overseas to help rebuild the country's antiquities institutions. But she added that because other Iraqis ''love it,'' she was ''all for it.''