Baghdad Sites

I was excited to see the next batch of pictures that Jed sent to me last night.  We had a good time talking about them and Jed explaining what each picture was about.

This last Tuesday, the higher ranking leadership was taken on a tour to visit different sites on the Camp Liberty base.  First, you need to understand that Camp Liberty does not just encompass strictly military related places. The base covers a very large area of the city where many of Saddam's palaces are located.

Here's the group of people Jed was with (he's on the far right.): 

They were taken to two of Saddam's palaces - each palace had been given a name by Saddam: "Victory Over America" & "Victory Over Iran."  No kidding, that's the name of the palaces. 

He named this one "Victory Over America" from his perceived victory from the first Gulf War.  Which is funny because I specifically remember watching him surrender on TV while I was in my history class at school.  Saddam's memory must of been a little fuzzy at the time.  There are still French cranes placed around the palace because he was building onto it at the time of the bombing.  (The next two pics I got from the internet so I could see what the outside of it looks like.)

They got to go look around inside as well, pic taken by Jed:

The palace ballroom alone is the size of a football field. (next 2 pics below are from the internet)

Jed on the roof area of the Victory Over America palace. 

Notice that big hill of dirt with the antennas in the background?

There's a story behind that.  All of the water surrounding the palaces were dug out by men and machinery.  The dirt was then used to bury all the people that Saddam had murdered over the years.  So that hill is not just dirt, it's actually a mass grave of humans.

For example, there was a family close by that owned some land that Saddam wanted to have.  He offered money to buy the land, but the family declined his offer.  The next day, Saddam had the family murdered and then took the land for himself.

View from one of the palace balconies:

Here is the bunker room in the palace for a place of retreat in times of bombings or attacks.

Another view from Victory of America Palace:

This is where the very first bomb was dropped by American forces when the US invaded Iraq:

 It used to be the palace's movie theater room where there were 250 people sitting and watching Pretty Woman at the time the bomb dropped.  Everyone was killed and the bodies still lie there today under all that pile of rubble.  That ray of light shining down is from the hole in the ceiling.
  
Another room in the palace destroyed by American bombs:

 Palace swimming pool:

See that dark brown stained area next to the railing?  Those are blood stains where Saddam would assassinate people.  After ten years of palace vacancy, the blood still hasn't completely faded away:

Jed and his friend, Drollinger, in front of this building that was used for Saddams' harems:

To be more specific, he would kidnap young girls from the local high schools and rape them here.  Saddam would "compensate" them for their "services" by letting them wander wherever they wanted to on the palace grounds.  How nice of him. *serious sarcasm here*

This is a portion of Saddam's bedroom:

Jed says Saddam's bedroom is bigger than our house.  The mattresses are from where American soldiers stayed and slept after taking over the palace and surrounding area.  The plaster is covering bullet holes and a little bit of graffiti.

This is my favorite place to see - a Flintstone Village (yep, based off the Flintstones cartoon) that Saddam had constructed for his kids and grandkids:

I bet his grandkids had a great time at this place:

A close up view:

All so interesting, don't you think?