Saddam's extravagant plans were interrupted by the U.S. Saddam seemed determined to echo Nebuchadnezzar's bold proclamation: 'Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?' (Daniel 4:30). He made Babylon 'the focal point of Iraqi nationalism,' and on September 22, 1987, he inaugurated the musical event known as the Babylon Festival. Hussein was consumed with reviving the glory days of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. The inscription was written in the wedge shapes of ancient cuneiform script as well as, strangely enough, in English. To further cement the implication of a relationship between himself and Nebuchadnezzar, Hussein had a seal struck depicting parallel images of himself and the ancient ruler. the guardian of the great Iraq and the renovator of its renaissance and the builder of its great civilization, the rebuilding of the great city of Babylon was done in 1987.' 1 Hussein, not to be outdone, had bricks laid in his palace wall that read: 'In the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein, the president of the Republic.

The curator showed Hussein some of the original bricks, stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar II and the date that we now refer to as 605 B.C. In 1987, while on a site visit to the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, Hussein asked how his guides were so certain of the date of its construction.

Believing himself to be the reincarnation of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who had conquered Jerusalem 2,500 years earlier, Hussein invested more than $500 million toward his goal of restoring Babylon's ancient city.

He promised that Babylon's grand palaces and legendary Hanging Gardens (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) would rise from the dust. When Saddam Hussein rose to power in Iraq, he conceived a grandiose scheme for the rebuilding of that ancient city. The rebuilding of Babylon is not just an idle topic of scholarly books.

Where was babylon located