Posted on 07/30/2003 6:45:16 PM PDT by blam
So this is where all our money went, say Iraqis
(Filed: 31/07/2003)
Visitors to Saddam's opulent palace are astonished and very angry, reports Harry de Quetteville in Tikrit
It was only after they had driven past the landscaped gardens, surveyed the marble sun decks overlooking the Tigris, noted the gilt door frames and the private cinema that Mudhfar Awad and Salih Fadhil's astonishment began to turn to anger.
Standing at the heart of Saddam Hussein's palace in Tikrit, in front of a giant swimming pool, they could contain themselves no longer.
"This is where all the money went - all our money went," said Salih, 30. "I am astonished and angry."
"I never knew," said Mudhfar Awad, known as Abu-Salah. "I never imagined it would be like this."
Four months ago these two genial Baghdadis, who have worked as driver and translator for a string of Telegraph correspondents in Iraq, would have been at risk had they so much as approached the monumental gates of the palace.
"If you broke down in your car outside the entrance you were in very bad trouble," said Salih.
"The guards would rush out and take you away or even shoot at you." A lot has changed since then. Now the palace is a barracks for Task Force Iron Horse, the outfit leading the hunt for Saddam.
The palm trees and pines have withered and browned without gardeners to tend them and the ornamental waterfall that once gushed while the desert outside baked no longer works.
The soldiers have littered their kit over every inch of the vast site, and their presence means that still only a tiny number of Iraqis is able to see what lies beyond the gates.
After a quick military police search of Abu-Salah's car, he and Salih became two of the first Iraqis outside Saddam's elite circle to find out what lies behind the watchtowers.
"They are most welcome," said Lt Col Bill Macdonald, waving us through the gates. "They should see this; we want them to see this."
There are more than 50 buildings on the site and two main palace complexes, each constructed on the plush but charmless scale of an airport hotel. Although one colossal dome has been caved in by American bombs, the site retained much of its fearsome significance for Salih and Abu-Salah.
"We were nervous when we went in," Salih said afterwards. "We knew Saddam had palaces, but we simply did not imagine what was hidden here.
"It just reminded me of how powerful Saddam was," Abu-Salah said.
Abu-Salah and Salih suggest that if America really wants to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, it only has to open up Saddam's palaces to his former subjects.
"Many Iraqis still love Saddam," Salih said. "But if they saw what we have seen, they would know he cheated them."
Iraq's new governing council named a Shi'ite politician as its first leader yesterday, after adopting a rotating presidency. Ibrahim Jaafari, a doctor and spokesman of the Shi'ite Da'wa Party, was chosen as the first president of the self-rule body.
I was in the mood for some country.
"Many Iraqis still love Saddam," Salih said. "But if they saw what we have seen, they would know he cheated them."
Sounds like a priority to me . . . I took it for granted that that was being done!
I agree, just be sure the busses aren't ambushed by the fedyeen pukes.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Plus, it doesn't belong to the president personally, he only lives there during his term.
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