For Rent: A Palace or Two
U.S. troops leaving Saddam’s palaces in Iraq
Available soon: nine palaces in lakeside complex frequented by visiting kings and dictators, beautiful molded ceilings and light fixtures, many bidets, Saddam Hussein mural and former prison cell. As is, with Tomahawk missile damage. Contact: U.S. Army.
Thus might read a real estate ad for the Victory Base Complex, one of the many properties the U.S. military is vacating as the Dec. 31 deadline for its withdrawal from Iraq approaches. It will leave behind probably some of the most elaborate, some would say tacky, office spaces ever used by American soldiers, sailors or Marines.
Not much to add from this seat. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a palace myself.
Some of you may feel a bit of nostalgia though?
Category: Politics
We had one in Mosul which was the MND North HQs. Looked nice but it was a sweat box. Even though the bathroom was all marble, there was nowhere to sit down for a dump. And if you could the system couldn’t handle it. #1 only by order of the CSM!
Wasn’t a palace, but did spend some time in one of Uday’s (I think) get-away homes. Was in the area intended for a last stand, and was interesting. No functional plumbing, but parts were still very ornate (seems locals may have hit it before it became a combat outpost, and took quite a bit).
Only time in my life I’ll ever have an office with marble floors and plywood walls. And the AC worked, too…but that was across town at FOB Prosperity…
I took a few days of R&R up in Tikrit in 2004. The base was a palace complex sitting on one of the river’s (Tigris I believe). We got to stay in one of the ground floor entry rooms that was unsurprisingly all tile which made it nice and cool despite the heat outside. I got to go to another one of the palaces and swim in an indoor pool that was insanely beautiful. Again, the interior of the pool room was all tile that was mostly blue and gold. One dude spent his year there as the lifeguard, just sitting on his little chair reading books. One evening a bunch of us played volley ball and as I sat out I heard a snap right in front of my face. A few feet away playing volley ball a female soldier yelled “OW, wtf was that!”. She had been shot in the calf and luckily my buddy and platoon medic Rhodes was there to provide first aid while a vehicle came to get her to the medical tent. We thought that it was a sniper from across the river since no one heard the shot. I also got to explore a few more of the palaces and got turned away from a few also. It turns out contractors don’t want you going through their stuff.
Went to Victory once on a PX run from Al-Kut. Kut had no PX, no MWR, no hajji-mart, no perimeter fence, no berm line, no towers, few K-walls, a chow hall that threatened to collapse when the slightest breeze came by, no CHU’s, and best of all…no Air Force pukes!
(i keed, i keed!)
Only later did we get something that resembled a PX, but only after the new hajji-mart “owner” was found to be stealing from the base. Never did get CHU’s, we shared old Saddam barracks with the El Salvador Army (great troops them El Sal’s. I’d serve with them in a heartbeat)
Bidet’s? Who the hell had that much water to waste? Friggen pogues!