The title refers to the vibe I received while touring Camp Victory / Camp Slayer in Baghdad. These two bases are adjacent to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) and are on the outskirts of the city. Saddam apparently built this area as sort of a Camp David – a retreat for him and his Baath party faithful to get away from Baghdad periodically and ho’ it up. Sort of like Disneyland, he had his crews dig some artificial lakes, built some pretty cool buildings around the periphery, added palm trees and other greenery, and created a very artificial environment. However, Walt and Co just empty your wallet – Saddam took it a couple of steps further.
You can see the downside of being a terrorizing dictator in that nobody is willing to say your ideas are dumb. For example, Saddam built a building for his personal ‘attendants’ not too far from Al Faw Palace. Looks reasonable from here….
Of course, if you zoom in, you can see the ‘detail’ in the railing – hearts and Saddam’s initials. I guess if you are going to be crazy, be bat-shit crazy – no need to go half assed. Sort of suspect his concubines were not going to make fun of it, nor would his buddies…
However, Saddam did not just think of himself, he also build a ‘ho palace for his sons and Baath party faithful. It is now known as the ‘Perfume Palace’. One way to keep the party faithful to you.
A slightly more scenic view, showing some of the waterworks constructed
Mind you, not every building was left unscathed during the war – though the number of pristine palaces makes one wonder if some Army staff was already planning future HQ’s and told the USAF ‘don’t bomb that one’… But some they did - the one below was where they made the opening strike when they thought they could take out Saddam and Co…
Hmm.. doesn’t look too bad… maybe a few touch ups…
Except this side was sort of destroyed – and so was the other
No tour today.
My personal fave was the ‘Victory over America’ Palace – built surrounding the ‘Victory over Iran’ Palace. It was under construction when the war broke out, and was never finished. Oh, and those cranes apparently belong to a French construction company (go figure…) and they want the US to pay to ship them back. It has been six years, and they are still there..
However, in the truly insane department, there is ‘Flintstone Palace’. I heard a couple different versions of WHY he built it, but first, apparently Saddam and his grandkids loved ‘The Flintstones’. So, he built them a replica Flintstone village to play in. The link above describes it far better than I will… The alternate story goes as follows: a couple of Saddam’s daughters fled Iraq with their husbands to Jordan – they might have coughed up some details of Saddam’s WMD program if I recall correctly. After a while, the wives grew homesick, and pined to return to Iraq. Of course, Saddam promised them amnesty… and so the silly husbands believed it. Shortly thereafter, Saddam executed the husbands, and to repay the grandkids for killing their dads, he built this. (the part about the dads is true, not sure about the palace part – but it has a more evil ring to it)
A distant shot – the link above has some better shots. I did walk around it and it is pretty cool, in an insane way. Yabba Dabba Doo!
No trip to Evil Disneyland would be complete without a shot in front of the guy who created it.
And to top it off, inside Al Faw Palace. Looks fantastic from a distance. Lots of marble and columns and beautiful ceilings and chandeliers.
There are some other nice buildings – friends work in a palace now known as ‘The Juicer’ since the roof looks like one of those paid-for-TV juicer things. Nice on the inside, very big doors. And, I took a pic inside Al Faw palace (above). Again, the Disney vibe is there too – got me thinking of the Contemporary resort – looks nice from afar, but get close and u can see that it is just facades and average quality – not real extravagance. Same here – get close, and you see crappy workmanship and shoddy quality. And, of course, I got to use Saddam’s porcelain – very nice – but still just a toilet functionally. Sad to see all of this opulence knowing full well that he was starving his people at the same time. Every Iraqi I have met and spoken with has been very nice. They are grateful that Saddam is gone, frustrated that it took us a few years to figure Iraq out, and excited that we are leaving (but a bit nervous as well)
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