The Palace Tour

Its not very often that someone offers to give you a tour of the al Faw Palace. Today was one of those days.

The corps historian from Fort Bragg offered to provide our office a private tour. We accepted. This gentleman is also a professor of history at the University of Kentucky. Go big blue!

The Qasr al Faw Palace was one of Saddam's newer palaces. The Al Faw Palace is named after a southern town that was occupied by the Iranians and then won back in a bloody siege that cost thousands of lives. It is set on an artificial lake, so still it looks like blue-green glass. All around the lake are Roman-style villas. Saddam reportedly had the palace built to commemorate his nation's "victory" over Iran. He would bring guests there to watch or hunt the wildlife and relax by the lakes.

We start out in the front of the palace, where there are writings on the doors and on the columns. He pointed out that the markings on the columns and also throughout the entire palace are saddam's initials. If you look at the center of the top, you will see a green circle, the initials are there.

Next he led us in side and told us about a particular chair that is now a "tourist" attraction. People from other bases come to see it and have their picture taken in it. It was a gift from Yasser Arafat to Saddam.

After a few jokes about the chair, we move onto the center of the palace where a huge chandelier hangs in the middle of a large walking area. He cautioned us about walking under it, since the supports are not the greatest example of construction. However, around the chandelier, there are words that say in Arabic, God is Great and also there are short writings about how God will grant Saddam victory.

After hearing all about the chandelier, we were let to the top floor where we were shown the writings throughout the entire palace
with Saddam's initials incorporated into the wood carvings. After
walking a couple of hallways, we were escorted to the roof. As you can see from the picture to the right, the only way to get there was a very small door that led to this ladder which leads to the roof. We are lucky since a very limited number of people are allowed to go up there. The gentleman that was providing the tour was able to answer a lot of detailed questions as we went around.

Now once we are on the roof it is bright with a strong breeze blowing, the sky is a very rich and beautiful blue. There are some white clouds, but mainly a very clear day. We could see to the center of Baghdad and for miles around. It was a pretty amazing feeling.

As you can see from some of the pictures, it was a sight to see. I have attached a few more pictures for you to see.