The as-Salam Palace, previously a home of former Iraqi president

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

. Since 2012, the palace has been certified as a Republican Palace.

History

Al Salam palace is located on the site of the former Republican Guard Headquarters, which was destroyed in Desert Storm. Construction has been ongoing since then and was completed in early 1999. As-Salam Palace was taken over by coalition forces during the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

. The palace was significantly damaged during the

shock and awe Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight. Though ...

campaign, sustaining several

airstrike An airstrike, air strike or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters and drones. The offic ...

attacks. The palace served as headquarters for the Joint Area Support Group, and was known to

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

forces as Camp Prosperity and Forward Operating Base (FOB) Prosperity.

Layout and amenities

As-Salam palace has 200 rooms with approximately of floor space. There are six floors, three of which are usable (others serve as 'false floors'), and two large ballrooms. The palace is internally lined with marble floors decorated with hundreds of thousands of hand-cut pieces, granite walls, and ceilings also adorned with thousands of hand-carved and inlaid hand-painted flowers. The palace is surrounded by a sequence of square tiles bearing the initials of Saddam Hussein (S & H); the Arabic letters are " Saad" & " Haa"." The tiles are clearly visible from the top of the palace. Iraqis report that the palace dome used to be topped with a life-sized statue of Saddam. Fireplaces around the lake in front of the palace are actually vents used to provide fresh air to bunkers below the lake. The bunkers are now inaccessible, having been flooded and sealed off by coalition forces. In the palace basement lies an entrance to one of many concrete tunnels running beneath the city of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. These ventilated tunnels were built to provide access to other palaces, government facilities and

Baghdad International Airport Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport ( ar, مطار بغداد الدولي, Maṭār Baġdād ad-Dawaliyy) is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the ...

Current use

From April 2009 to January 2010, FOB Prosperity was run by the Joint Area Support Group - Central (JASG-C) 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) from

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In 2012, the FOB was occupied by the

Iraqi Government The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as wel ...

, which took over operations after the U.S. military drawdown.

References

External links

Simplified schematic map of the surrounding area
at the

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who wo ...

web site
''Saddam has left the building''
article in the

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

with description and photos Palaces in Iraq Official residences in Iraq Presidential residences 1999 establishments in Iraq {{Palace-stub

History

Layout and amenities

Current use

See also

References

External links