As US-led forces push ever closer to Baghdad, a German engineer believes he has the answer to the question on everyone's lips: where is Saddam Hussein?, writes Derek Scally Berlin
Mr Karl Bernd Esser believes the Iraqi leader could be secure in a multi-million-dollar bunker 30 metres beneath one of his Baghdad palaces.
Mr Esser should know: 20 years ago he was commissioned to build the 1,800 sq metre complex, worthy of a James Bond villain.
Saddam Hussein would be next to untouchable inside the bunker, Mr Esser said.
The outside walls are three metres thick and can withstand temperatures of up to 300 degrees.
The only way for anyone to get through the three-ton doors or three metre-thick ceiling of reinforced steel would be with bazookas.
"The bunker could withstand the shockwave of a nuclear bomb the size of the one in Hiroshima detonating 250 yards away," Mr Esser said.
Even so, the Iraqi dictator could be long gone by the time American or British soldiers blasted their way in: the complex is fitted out with two escape routes, one of which leads to the Tigris river, 200 metres away.
At $66 million, the Saddam Hussein special doesn't come cheap, but it proved its worth in 1990 when it survived aerial bombardment.
Pictures of the bunker show submarine-like service corridors with grey walls and turquoise linoleum.
But that gives way to the luxury of Saddam's private quarters where, after soaking his war-weary bones in the spa, the Iraqi leader can flick the gold light-switch and enjoy another sleepless night in his huge double bed, complete with elaborate embroidered head-board.
Saddam would have to get used to the strange taste of freeze-dried food - the complex has a year's supply - and the smell of the water from the recycling machine.
But he does not need to worry about the power going during the news headlines: special electromagnetic shields protect electrical circuits from outside interference.
Mr Esser remembers how Saddam was "completely satisfied" when he was shown around the finished bunker.
"He was completely friendly. He was wearing civilian clothes and looked like an ordinary civil servant," said Mr Esser, who worked at the time for Boswau and Knauer, the German firm that built bunkers for Hitler.
Mr Esser said he does not feel in the least guilty about building the bunker in Baghdad, pointing out that Saddam was a Washington favourite at the time.
"I just see it as an achievement of bunker technology," he said.