i just found this from when Saddam was stlll president:

"While Iraq's president now keeps a low public profile, his presence is everywhere. Giant portraits, some several stories high, stare at Iraqis in Big Brother style from buildings, lamposts, and any available surface. Many are connected themaically to the building they adorn. In front of the reconsruced telecommunications building, Saddam is talking on the phone. Outside the Ministry of Justice, he is a judge. At the Mukhabarat, security police headquarters, his expression is particularly severe. At the commucicable disease control center, where all visitors to Iraq are requited to have AIDS test within 5 days of their arrival or go to jail, Saddam is pictured wearing a protective metal helmet! And at the main crossroads close to the Al-Rasheed Hotel, there are 6 enormous portraits of Saddam, several of them smiling. It may only be coincidental, but one of the main streets off that junction has become a centre for a burgeoning industry in the city - prostitution."