The as-Salam Palace (), previously a home of former Iraqi president
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
. 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
A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
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 U.S.-led
Coalition forces during the
2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. 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, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...
attacks. The palace served as headquarters for the Joint Area Support Group, and was known to Coalition 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 ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. These ventilated tunnels were built to provide access to other palaces, government facilities and
Baghdad International Airport
Baghdad International Airport , previously Saddam International Airport from 1982 to 2003, () is Iraq's largest international airport, located in a suburb about west of downtown Baghdad in the Baghdad Governorate. It is the home base for Ira ...
.
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 U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. In 2012, the FOB was occupied by the
Iraqi Government
The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as a democratic, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branche ...
, which took over operations after the U.S. military drawdown.
See also
*
List of United States Military installations in Iraq
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 1945 by a group of scient ...
web site
''Saddam has left the building''
article in the St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute f ...
with description and photos
Palaces in Iraq
Official residences in Iraq
Presidential residences
1999 establishments in Iraq
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