One of the last remaining murals of former dictator Saddam Hussein remains at Camp Slayer in Baghdad. (Chris Maddaloni/Army Times)
An Army spokesman giving a press tour around Baghdad said this mural, which stands at Camp Slayer, is one of the only last ones of Saddam Hussein throughout Iraq. The rest of the self aggrandizing portraits of the former dictator have been destroyed or vandalized beyond recognition. Somehow I feel there are a couple still up in his former hometown of Tikrit, but we’ll take the sergeant’s word for it.
Photographer Chris Maddaloni is collecting pictures of the many palaces around the country. Many we’ve seen around Baghdad still remain barely in tact, still destroyed from the 2003 invasion. Here is a 1st Lt. Casey Steckel inspecting the hole a JDAM punched through the Al Salam palace roof, the former Iraqi Republican Guard headquarters.
1st Lt. Casey Seckel, the medical officer for the Rear Area Operations Center at FOB Prosperity, looks through the hole in the roof of Al Salam palace. (Michael Hoffman/Army Times)
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There used to be one at COB Speicher in Tikrit. Actually, it is still there, however at some point during my tour, a wood frame was erected and boarding put up. I assume it was to protect it from vandalism and of course to eradicate traces of Hussein. It was fairly large as well.
I used to walk pass this tiled mural every day in 2005 to get to work. It was in front of a crude fountain which was working nicely last time I was there. It would have to be refilled with water every day as the 50 degree heat would evaporate the water so quickly. Was the 100kg bomb barbeque still there when you took the photo? I would love to have been able to bring that home.
Camp Slayer was a vital hub for communications and intelligence analysis, not only for Victory Base Complex, but the entire Iraq Theater of operations.
I was the last Sheriff, in the last Mayor cell on Camp Slayer. Our mission was to prep the camp for turnover to the GoI as a part of the 116th Cavalry Brigade/Garrison Command. Our team removed over 3000 tons of debris and abandoned equipment from November 2010 through August 2011. We facilitated the movement of about 1800 personnel off of Slayer and cleared/sanitized almost 200 hardstand buildings. Additionally, almost 300 CHU’s and Ablution units were handed over to various Iraqi military units before we rotated off VBC.
The Victory Over America, Victory Over Iran, Perfume Palaces/Ba’the Party HQs/Ouday’s house/Deutsch Village/Flintstone House/Saddam’s mural…all these areas were “tourist” attractions and we did our best to clean them all out in anticipated turnover to the GoI.
I’d kinda like to go back in about 10 years to see what they do with the place.