B Troop visits Saddam’s palace

Courtesy Photo | Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Harkey, a maintenance warrant officer; Sgt. 1st Class Andy Jones, a maintenance non-commissioned officer; and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hearon, a medic, all of 1st Squadron, 180th Cavalry, and Master Sgt. Neal Wallace, of 1st Battalion, 160th Field Artillery, pose with a Camp Beuhring fire truck at the Camp Beuhring Fire Department in Kuwait. Harkey is chief of the Caney Volunteer Fire Department in Caney, Okla. Jones is a captain of the Rattan Volunteer Fire Department in Rattan, Okla. Hearon is a captain of the Calera Volunteer Fire Department in Calera, Okla. And Wallace is a firefighter of the Helena Volunteer Fire Department. These men proudly show their off membership in the firefighter brotherhood by posing with this truck while deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation New Dawn in Iraq. This photo will soon be on display at the Oklahoma Firefighters Museum in Oklahoma City, Okla.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

10.06.2011

Courtesy Story

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division

BAGHDAD - While on a mission to Camp Victory in Baghdad, Spc. Matthew Coker and Pfc. Jim West of Bravo Troop, 1/180, out of Poteau, Okla., took a tour of the outside of Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory.

The Al Faw palace began construction in 1989 and completed just prior to Desesrt Storm. It was built to commemorate victory over Iran. The palace was named after a southern town that was occupied by Iranians and won back in a bloody siege.

The Al Faw palace was used as a hunting and fishing resort for people loyal to Saddam. It was mostly used by his sons, Uday and Qusay, who used the artificial lake around the palace to travel throughout the resort. Saddam was to believed to have visited the palace only six to eight times.

The lake surrounding the palace was stocked with bass and carp. Saddam cut off water to Baghdad for three days so the lake could be filled. Rumor has it that there are bodies in the lake, but the lake has not been drained to prove that.

Upon entering the palace, next to the doors there is Arabic writing that says, "peace be to fighter of the faw peninsula." The palace has 62 rooms and 29 bathrooms. It is 450,000 square feet and takes 40 people five hours a day to clean it.

It was the largest coalition base used during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

• Date Taken: 10.06.2011
• Date Posted: 11.19.2011 06:08
• Story ID: 80263
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ