72 palaces? Isn't that the number of virgins expected, by someone who yells "Allah Ackbar" and goes boom?
According to GlobalSecurity.org, a US website devoted to security issues, there are now as many as 57 presidential "palaces" across Iraq. (And this was a 2002 report)
This was in addition to the 20 or so palaces he possessed prior to the Gulf War, some of which were destroyed or sustained heavy damage during the conflict.
The State Department alleged that the money to finance the building spree came primarily from oil smuggling, as well as from the resale of such U.N.-supplied humanitarian commodities as baby formula.