Palaces surrounded by water
By LTC Melanie Meier
While Iraq is definitely not the only place in the world that has a vivid contrast between the haves and the have nots, Baghdad felt like a place from medieval times that had persisted into the 21st century. While visiting to attend a Conference at Victory Base Compound, I was excited for the chance to see the palace that today serves as headquarters of Multi National Corps Iraq (MNC-I). Despite my excitement, I knew that getting there was going to be a challenge because traveling in Iraq is not the most convenient or the most comfortable activity.
What would take a few hours to travel in the comfort of your own car back home takes hours here of sweating in your "full battle rattle," either in the back of a MRAP on a convoy, in the back of a C-130 or in a helicopter praying the weather holds and you do not get stuck somewhere. Despite the inconvenience and sweat, I was ready for a change in scenery.
Before my arrival, I knew Victory Base Compound was big and surrounded by abutting camps, but once there I was surprised by what I saw and experienced. During my husband's tour of Iraq in 2005, he told me about running around Lost Lake and watching soldiers fish on the huge man made lake that was part of Saddam Hussein's old hunting preserve. However, I was not prepared for the contrast between the apparent luxury that used to exist here and the starkness of Camp Adder where I am stationed in southern Iraq.
Trees, grass and lots of water surround the grand buildings, pools, bath houses, barbeque sites, islands and houseboats. There was so much to see that what to focus on first was a real challenge. This area was once a rich, exclusive club for the Ba'athists and Saddam's family and consists of three large palaces sitting within sight of one another, all surrounded by man-made lakes.
The conference actually took place in the Al Faw Palace, which Saddam built 18 years ago to commemorate the Iraqis who died recapturing the Al Faw Peninsula from the Iranians. Because he insisted construction be completed in two years, the palace now suffers from the rush. Unlike the stately palaces of Europe with their master craftsmanship and top-of-the-line materials, the Al Faw Palace is actually disintegrating. At first glance it looks grand containing huge rooms, foyers, chandeliers, staircases, bathrooms, a ballroom/grand dining room, and other opulent quarters.
At closer inspection though, the marble is actually tile facades and the staircases are made of gypsum, a softer material in which to work. What looks like gold is really brass. The chandeliers are plastic, but glass is intermittently used to add sparkle and Styrofoam fills the spaces in walls and floors that did not match up correctly.
Proper soil compression was not done before the foundation was laid, causing obvious shifting and cracking throughout the palace. Walls bulge, marble facades snap, and some of the arches, which represent the strongest structure in architecture, crumble from the pressure.
From the balconies of the Al Faw Palace, I could see the Perfume Palace and the Victory over America Palace. The Perfume Palace, originally built for one of Saddam's brothers and his family, was turned into a Ba'ath Party amusement center after their deaths. The Victory over America Palace was never finished although it was to be about a third larger than the Al Faw. Three cranes still surround the abandoned building site.
Saddam had many villas built for his family and dignitaries. The two that were constructed for his sons, Uday and Qusay, still bear huge holes from US missile attacks. All of these are on the water and in the morning a cool breeze sweeps over the peaceful man-made lakes that are still full of the fish that Saddam imported for sport and geese glide on the water. At the Al Faw Palace a picture hangs of a soldier lying on the ground next to a Tigris Salmon, measuring five feet, ten and a half inches long!
According to the self-guided tour book, the villa complex once included horse stables, a race track, date groves, wheat fields, a zoo, pools, cinema, walking paths and much more. These areas now serve as living areas for Coalition Forces and the one hill in the area, made from dirt dug out to form the man-made lakes, is covered with antennas and satellite dishes. To fill the lakes, Saddam turned the water off to the city of Baghdad for three days. Today the water level is maintained by a pipeline from the Tigris River that also includes a series of canals and locks that connect them all together.
Just the thought of all this water, and the 29 bathrooms in the Al Faw Palace, is flabbergasting compared to the dried up marshland of south Iraq which still has places without running water. Still, I am thankful for the opportunity to see this for myself. For me, it was like Saddam's Iraq was a place from medieval times that had persisted into the 21st century.
