Incredible Destruction

Not now, I'm fine, but in the past. The damage is from 2003, when the US first attacked Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

I went on a guided tour they offer on the base here, really the only one they have. The tour is of Camp Slayer, named for Utah National Guard's 445th Chemical Brigase, the "Dragon Slayers." Before it held this name, Camp Slayer was the Abu Ghraib Presidential Grounds, a vacation spot for the President (Saddam Hussein).

The first building we visited was the "Victory over America Palace"

This palace was built after the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein was kicked out of Kuwait and told his country he had won the war. The palace was still in construction, being built around the Victory over Iran Palace - another war Sadaam Hussein did not win - when the US hit it with a precision guided bomb.

This is the ballroom upstairs where the bomb hit, it is as long as a football field.

This shows where is hit

And this is a close up of the damage.

Not to focus on just where destruction is, but there is not a lot else that was very interesting in this building preserved in it's under-construction state.

The next stop was the Baath Party House. Saddam was a member of the Baath party, which is now banned in Iraq (but still controls Syria). Here is the front entrance.

Here is the pool at the center of the building. This location was very significant during the beginning of the war we're currently in. It was hit with two aircraft carried precision bombs and one tomahawk missile when the US gained intelligence that a large number of party members were inside the building.

This room is where one of the aircraft launched weapons hit.

It detonated on the roof.

Below is the room where a meeting was in session and approximately 200 party members were gathered. Formerly a spacious room with stadium seating, it has been reduced to a tangled mess by a "Tomahawk Land Attack Missile".

I still haven't put any new pictures up on picasa, but when I do I will put more up from this tour.