The 19th Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, 20 March 2022

Sheri Laizer | Exclusive to iKurd.net

From the Destruction of 2003, through State Vandalism and Ethno-Sectarian Division, Iran Strangles Iraq

Missiles fired at Erbil, the Kurdish capital, on 13 March 2022, claimed by the IRGC are a symptom of a deepening challenge to Iran’s foes in service of the Axis of Resistance

Iraq’s ongoing tragedy is that the Shi’a enemies of the former secular nation that now ‘rule’ the country revile ideals of equality, humanity, art and culture. Artistic expression is largely devoted to martyr portraits of militia fighters, the Ayatollahs, and beatific portraits of Imam Hussein positioned across Iraq’s streets during the Shi’a religious holidays. Little if anything has been built or created in the past nineteen years but much has been destroyed, neglected, abandoned, or simply trodden underfoot. [1]

The Supreme Leader and the Islamist elite that rule Iran have committed the past forty years to the socio-cultural destruction of their own country and in almost two decades have almost achieved the same in Iraq.

Upping its game against US allies and bringing out its old accusations against Israel [2] are Iran’s pretext for a far wider objective: regional dominion. Iran has benefitted – like Russia, (now pummelling Ukraine and exposing NATO’s silly game there), from its 11-year military experience towards Syria and decades backing Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Kurdistan is at real risk just as Baghdad and the Sunnis are being crushed under Tehran’s feet. [3]

Decimation of order in Iraq

The professionals that worked within the civil Ba’ath administration, in the scientific field, social services, in cultural activities, the sports arena [4], and all artistic pursuits during the Ba’ath era have all faced adverse attention since regime change – and do so an ongoing basis. Their lives and their works have been ground small under the feet of Iran’s proxies.

Saddam Hussein, as President of Iraq, embarked upon social advances as well as driving building and art commissions. His architects, designers and engineers incorporated cultural tributes (in terms of the motifs highlighted, materials used and craftsmanship exhibited) to Sumero-Babylonian, Moorish, Hispano-Islamic, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ottoman and Far Eastern art and architectural influences.

Modern post-modern architectural influences also came to characterise Baghdad under the Ba’ath party in most of its developing cities, including in the Kurdish dominated north.

The legacy of the Abbasid caliphate remains just visible in Baghdad: The Abbasid palace situated in the Bab al-Moadem area remains preserved. Similarly, the spiral minaret and fort complex at Samarra resisted efforts by ISIS to destroy it and survived a shell lobbed at the top of the minaret. The Abbasid bridge outside Zakho is also still standing despite years of armed conflict.

In short, Iraq’s rich culture, diversity and historic might was celebrated during the Ba’ath era.

The Americans wantonly targeted this culture dating increasingly from Iraq’s justified invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait had been stealing Iraq’s oil through a method known as “slant drilling” cutting beneath the international border – a fact omitted from most Western accounts blaming Iraq. Negotiations between Baghdad and the Kuwaitis failed. The Coalition seized the opportunity of the invasion of Iraq’s true province to seek to control Iraq’s oil using Kuwait as a pretext. The first Gulf War was launched. Even the retreating Iraqi forces and civilians were burned to cinders by the American bombers on the Highway of Death. The rest is history…

Reverence for Iraq’s history and architecture

Despite the draconian sanctions imposed on Iraq from 1990 onwards, at the Iraqi President’s behest, significant architectural projects were undertaken to restore Iraq’s prestige and remind the world of her greatness, drawing upon its 6,000 years of civilization.

In 1972, Saddam Hussein had signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union, valid for fifteen years. He visited Moscow. This made him an American foe at the time.

Until the political mood did an about face after the Iran-Iraq war and Kuwait debacle, Saddam Hussein had been a close ally of the UK and many European countries. When still vice-president, also visited Spain, including Madrid, Cordoba, Granada and Toledo in December 1974, touring museums and visiting the Moorish architectural treasures. He prayed in the Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral and visited Alhambra (the Red Fort – Qal’at al-Hamra) [5]. He received a full Guard of Honour reception in Madrid. The French Presidents of the era similarly feted him at the Elysée Palace. He met with the French Presidents in 1975 and into the 1980s.

Saddam Hussein sponsored many artists and architects from this period onwards. Iraq’s Abbasid Caliphate, which succeeded the Umayyad Caliphate with its seat in Damascus, had first made its capital in Samarra then moved to Baghdad under the Caliph Mansour. Saddam Hussein referenced the cultural and architectural connections of this period with Islamic Spain and the Maghreb in many of the buildings and art works he commissioned or supported. Motifs from the art of Islamic Spain and the Maghreb were carefully incorporated into the woodwork, panelling and stalactite formations of the palaces Saddam built.

Furnishings were equally inspired by the French palaces, thereby fusing and harmonising European and Oriental motifs. Intricate marble stonework designs in floral and geometric forms was featured on the floors and imagery deriving from Iraq’s ancient history fused with modern features in the huge painted ceilings. Much is still visible in the Babylon Palace, overlooking the ruins of ancient Babylon despite the graffiti covering the lower walls and the vandalism under the Shi’a dominated regime.

The visits to Spain in particular would influence the Iraqi leader’s choice of motifs for the Palace Projects accomplished throughout the 1990s. Saddam Hussein has been quoted of Granada (and the Alhambra Palace) saying, “I will never say that I trod on Granada’s soil but that I embraced it.” [6] [7]

Saddam Hussein also met with the Algerian leader, Houari Boumeddine, their friendly terms leading to the Algiers Agreement of 1975 signed with the Shah. The Algiers Treaty spelled the collapse of the Kurdish revolution and put paid to Mullah Mustafa Barzani’s dream of securing an independent Kurdish nation at that time.

Pretexts for war, oil, and the cultural destruction wrought by the invasion

Iraq was falsely accused of involvement of 9/11 to pursue its oil and effect the final destruction of the Ba’ath order there in the 2003 onslaught. Even under President Clinton, a Democrat President, Iraq – and Baghdad in particular – had suffered repeated destructive bombing sorties targeting key government buildings and often missing the target, such as in the 1991 bombing of the civilian shelter in Adhamiya. Iraq increasingly became the target of US political spleen, supported by its ‘special relationship’ by the UK. Biographies of Saddam Hussein were coloured by political bias and propaganda policies. Western reporting still largely follows this scheme.

The US-led invasion of 2003, now 19 years ago (20 March 2003) only capped the cumulative effects of years of wanton physical destruction and the economic bullying of Iraq by the United States, Britain and their Coalition partners.

Although it was well known that the Iraqi president rarely if ever slept in the palaces severe structural damage was inflicted for no good purpose other than a display of American might and determination. Iraq’s heritage sites and museums also suffered damage and vandalism in tune with the lack of forethought for protecting Iraq’s artefacts and preventing the subsequent pillaging by the masses.

Colin Powell and George W. Bush had also wanted to destroy Saddam Hussein’s symbolic Qadisiya Victory Arch with its large bronze arms modelled on those of the president himself, realised by the celebrated, late, Iraqi sculptor and artist, Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (20.04.1929-12.09.2011. The crossed swords arches had been designed by Khalid al-Rahal who passed away in 1987. The sculptor completed them thereafter. Attempts to dismantle them in 2007 by the usurping power ceased in the wake of public protest – for once – and they have since been protected as part of Iraq’s heritage although public access has largely been denied in line with securing the International Zone.

Creative works have survived through not being Ba’ath linked

Mohammed Ghani Hikmat left behind a rich heritage of his wider work in Baghdad celebrating Iraqi themes with scenes and characters from the tales of the 1001 Nights – including Ali Baba and the 40 thieves (the Kahramana), the flying carpet (near the Palestine Hotel), Aladdin and his genie (near the Al-Rashid Hotel), King Shahriyar and Queen Scheherazade on the Abu Nuwas Tigris Corniche.

The ingenious Save Iraqi Culture monument commissioned by the Mayor Baghdad in 2010 with its multiple muscled arms propping up a cuneiform-inscribed pillar attracts scores of young people for hanging out and taking selfies. It succeeds because, like all meaningful art, the work is beyond sect and holds universal appeal.

Other of Mohammed Ghani Hikmat’s works were stolen from his studio after the invasion. He fled to Jordan and returned to Iraq years later in his old age. Much of his creative legacy has been lost forever. [8]

Iran’s Proxies Eradicate Iraq’s Socio-Cultural Identity

Concerted attempts were first made by the CPA and Interim Iraqi Government alongside the Shi’a opposition exiles to eradicate all imagery associated with Saddam Hussein. That included the palaces and the unfinished mosques – unless these sites were deemed useful to the usurpers of Iraq’s powerbase.

Many well known public figures were pursued by their Shi’a adversaries into neighbouring Jordan whence many had initially fled after March 2003. They include film directors like Bagdad-based Kurd, Muhammad Shukri-al-Jamil, numerous actors, singers and musicians. Many were paid by the leading family to appear before them at their formal parties, celebrations and for a wide variety of social occasions. That was sufficient to make them targets of revenge by the incoming Shi’a led administration.

Saddam Hussein had devoted his attention to the work of artists and architects; he had honoured many among them and closely guided those working on his favourites architectural projects, including the palaces. Archive film and photographs highlighted the “Beloved Leader”, Saddam Hussein, in the company of various of these professionals considering plans and designs. Many of them were also featured on Iraqi state television and in the Ba’ath newspaper, al-Thawra. He worked on urban development with Iraq’s modernist architects like Rifat Chadirji, the designer of the original Unknown Soldier Monument in Tahrir Square, who achieved international acclaim”. [9] That sculpture was replaced by the giant statue of Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War and toppled in 2003. A replacement was erected showing a symbolic Iraqi family unit by Basim Hamid, also removed for no clear reason. The once ornate site where Iraqis used to sit at outdoor tables for coffee and discourse opposite the old Meydan Mosque (or 14 Ramadan Mosque) is currently a ruin of broken rubble.

Iraqi art and architecture: political statement and cultural phenomenon

Long-term opponents of the secular Arab socialist regime in Iraq, like the son of exiled Shi’a architect Mohamed Makiya, Kanan Makiya (who wrote under the pen-name of Samir al-Khalil), focused largely on disseminating information on Iraq’s human rights abuses to a foreign audience but also published a biting criticism of Saddam-era structures and monuments in a book called The Monument. Makiya condemned them as crude. This was a personal opinion and one based on his politics as a Westernised and well-educated Iraqi intellectual. Kanan Makiya was also a driving force behind the Iraq Memory Foundation and the preservation of the Ba’ath records archive, as was current Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, one of the Makiyas’ associates from the London exile circle around his father’s fine establishments, Saqi Books and the Kufa Gallery. Both have since closed but hosted quality art and literary gatherings alongside political debate.

Meanwhile, the artists, architects, structural and civil engineers working on Saddam Hussein’s high profile building projects were required to have solid Ba’ath party credentials and to constantly demonstrate their loyalty. Iraq’s enemies were many and dangerous. Saddam knew himself to be threatened and took all possible precautions. The precautions he implemented were not, however, sufficient to save him from the ill intentions of the Americans.

On another level, membership of the Ba’ath Party provided the key for good or lasting employment and promotion prospects. Party membership records were closely maintained during the course of members’ lifetimes.

When the Ba’ath Administration was decapitated by the US invasion, the former Ba’ath records were flown to the United States for research, categorisation, digital reproduction and study with considerable input from Kanan Makiya. His best intentions for reconciliation were thwarted by the Iran-backed Shi’a hardliners that America put into power because a few spoke good English and knew how best to package their claims.

The US government also then made the error of very bad timing returning the Ba’ath documents material to Iraq during the premiership of Nouri al-Maliki coinciding with the raging sectarian slaughter against Sunnis and former Ba’ath era actors. Critics have since observed how, contrary to all hopes for their us in reconciliation, the records have been used systematically by the Shi’a led regime for revenge.

March 2003 -The palaces are bombed – again

Al Salam (the Peace Palace)

As Salam Palace (the Peace Palace) shown right, formerly displayed giant busts of the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, on four corners. It was partly destroyed by aerial bombardment through the roof and then ransacked from below when left unguarded.

The busts were removed by the US forces that also toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square. The Palace building and outlying structures remain in a semi-ruined state (2022). The once fine white dome has been left to rust with a hole through its centre top.

Work on As-Salam Palace got underway soon after the first Gulf War despite the crippling sanctions imposed on Saddam Hussein’s government by the Coalition allies. The palace construction consisted of four-storeys set in finely landscaped grounds. Work was completed in September 1999 at a cost of about $100 million. Rather than being home to the Iraqi President, his wife and their five children, it mainly provided accommodation to visiting foreign dignitaries.

The palace was built on the site of the former Republican Guard Headquarters (RG), destroyed in Operation Desert Storm under Bill Clinton. The RG headquarters had themselves originally been built on the site of the palace residence of King Faisal I of Iraq built by the British in 1928.

Similarities can be detected with the bold, dark blue domed, post Gulf War mosque originally known as the Mother of All Battles Mosque (Um Al Ma’arik) built by Saddam Hussein in NW Baghdad with its symbolic missiles at the corners. It was renamed Mother of Cities after regime change. Um Al Ma’arik was a model for the Grand Mosque of Saddam in the Al-Muthana airport complex that was never completed, with its large artificial lake representing the Arab lands.

Al Sijood Palace (the Adoration Palace)

Al Sijood is a beautiful building that was targeted by American bombing yet has largely remained intact, as seen in its setting below with the Tigris river behind. In a second view, the Palace is shown as seen from the Tigris. To its left lies an adjacent small palace that has been utterly obliterated. There was no sense bombing it. The UN inspectors had made thorough mass inspections including as recently as 2002. It was unoccupied at the time of their tour. [10]

The turquoise-tile domed palace is situated on the north bank of the river Tigris in the Janain area and became known as the New Presidential Palace, as aside from the Old Presidential Palace to the northeast. It was the preferred residence of the President when built. (The palace and grounds were temporarily taken over by the Republic of Georgia’s coalition forces who dubbed it FOB Shavnaboda.)

Two different compounds flanked Al Sijood under the former administration. Along the river, west of bridge and east of the palace was the “Tigris Compound” which housed the government’s top echelons: The Revolutionary Command Council, Regional Leadership, and the eldest son of the president, the sociopathic, Uday Hussein. To the west side, just across the little Khair River lies the Qadisiya Compound that housed government ministers and party functionaries.

Investors are now reported to have been offered the palaces as touristic investment opportunities, beginning with Al Sijood, [11] but like so much else in Iraq there is little outward sign of progress.[12]

The Council of Ministers building

The distinctive, ziggurat-shaped building built in the 1980s and outlying presidential sites featured heavily in the newscasts of the so-called Shock and Awe, US bombardment of Iraq in March 2003 where it was shown in flames. The structure has since been restored and is back in use by the post-Ba’ath regime. Photos below show the building before and after restoration.

It was built in the late 1980’s by CP Kukreja Associates, based in New Delhi. (CP Kukreja does not list this building in their current portfolio, but it can reportedly be found in Google’s cached version of it).

The Al Eiman (Faith or Believers) Palace

The low horizontal complex lies to the left of the Council of Ministers building and is identifiable by its distinctive, flat, blue domes.

The impressive tall ‘window’ building situated to the front of the Council of Ministers was once the location of the world headquarters for the Iraqi Ba’ath Party and was assigned to the Presidential Guards. At the time of the invasion it was still only 70% completed.

It was then used by the Occupation to send a political message to Iraqis and the outside world of who was in control through being chosen as the location of the Iraqi High Tribunal. There the Iraqi President was subjected to weeks of televised show trial and inevitably condemned to death. The ‘legalised assassination’ by hanging was carried out just before New Year’s Eve at the end of December 2006.

Between the former Ba’ath Party headquarters building and the tomb lay a range of 1970s era buildings, which were also partially destroyed, but also partially inhabited. 

The occupying powers that had handed control over to the ‘Interim Iraqi Government” – a group composed largely of their old friends in exile – did not have the legal jurisdiction to try the Iraqi leader under International law, as was coherently argued by the defence team – but defence argument was to no avail. The outcome was inevitable even before the trial got underway. Saddam Hussein was to be made a blood sacrifice at the end of 2006 to the Da’wa (Islamic Call) Party and to the delight of the top Da’wa official of the day, Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki.

Another view of the Faith Palace below derives from a screen shot published on Wikimapia.org that includes a view of the blue domed gate on the right and the Council of Ministers building behind left, useful in providing s sense of orientation as the public cannot access the Green Zone to this day. Tarik Aziz had escorted Iraqi journalists through the grounds in 1997, filming as he spoke. [13]

The facility was hit by 8 bunker blast bombs that destroyed the top level but not the bunker beneath. [14] It has been built in the 1982 and 1982 by a German firm, Boswau and Knauer, for an estimated $65 million. German security consultant, Karl Esser, designed the bunker and security system. The main dome was hit through the roof and all below collapsed. Two US B52s dropped a two-ton bomb on the roof on Friday 28 March 2003 – the Iraqi holiday. Looters, including American personnel did the rest.

“Construction took place at a time when western companies were legally supplying Saddam with arms and equipment during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. It served as an air raid shelter and not a combat bunker.” [15] It had also been hit and damaged in 1991.

At that time, it was stated by one of the German engineers, “Of course, this was in the high phase of the Iran-Iraq war, and the whole West, including the United States, supported Saddam Hussein against the evil archenemy, Ayatollah Khomeini,” Niedermeier said, referring to Iran’s former religious leader. “Why would anyone have objected then? Who could have known that it would help Saddam defend himself against the West today.” [16]

Michel Aflaq’s Tomb 

At the far western end of what became the Ba’ath Headquarters and Presidential compound sits the turquoise blue-domed tomb of the founder of the Ba’ath Party, Michael Aflaq, built soon after his death on 23 June 1989. 

The Great Hall of Meetings 

The Great Hall of Meetings (dubbed FOB Honor during the Occupation) was built as an extensive meeting hall for the Ba’ath administration, built at a cost of over $100 million during the sanctions regime. It contained some twenty medium-sized meeting rooms and lecture halls. It suffered heavy bombing during the opening strikes of the 2003 invasion.

“Entry by the middle front entrance admitted access to the largest hall. To the right was featured a large mural of Saddam Hussein. To the left a large bronze relief depicted Saddam Hussein above Nebuchadnezzar and Hammurabi leading the Iraqi army to victory. Leaving the front entrance and going south toward the Council of Ministers stepped-pyramid building provided access to the large southern entrance to the HOM. There, a vestibule exhibited a ceiling painted with scenes from a battle during Desert Storm. The painting showed the defeat of U.S. forces and the triumph of Iraqi troops and tanks. To the right of the entrance, a side room featured a mural of Saddam Hussein.” [17]

The Republic Palace (Old Presidential Palace)

The Republic Palace was originally built for King Faisal II in the 1950s but the young king was assassinated before he could move in. The structure was enlarged by Saddam Hussein and two new wings added to the existing central building. It was one of the sites that was unsuccessfully searched for the (by that time) non existent WMD by UNSCOM inspectors. Although the Republic Palace was also hit by American bombing and thereafter suffered years of attack by rockets and mortars it has since been repaired and furbished by a Turkish company at a cost of some $400 million. It was made ready for the Arab League Summit of May 2011 18 and is in regular use for official ceremonies of state.

The domed building, with its two sweeping wings, occupies a section of land about a half mile in length. The middle section, with its turquoise blue dome, was built between 1957-58 from Iraqi sandstone brought from Nissan Governorate. It was designed by a team of British and Iraqi architects for the Iraqi monarchy and constructed in the 1950s by Harold A. Claridge, a British army major of New Zealand birth, at the behest of Faisal II to become his official residence after his intended marriage to an Egyptian princess. Before the royal wedding could take place, the King was assassinated in the 14 July 1958 coup spearheaded by Brigadier Abdul Karim Kassem [19] and the monarchy dismembered. Qassem is still honoured by the post-Saddam administration. His statues in Baghdad remain intact.

The Republic palace structure was severely damaged by bombing in January 1991 under Bill Clinton’s presidency in the course of the so-called Operation Desert Shield but was rebuilt within a year.

Saddam Hussein then had his name inscribed on every 50th brick, somewhat like in the ruins of Babylon. This feature was said to still be visible in an open section of wall near the north wing entrance.

Renovation in the late 1990’s nearly tripled the structure’s original size through the addition of the large wings to the north and east of the building. It became the preferred meeting place of the President when he resided near the airport at the Radwaniyah Palace complex. It took some hits on January 18, 19, 22 and February 13.

It would later provide the HQ for the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) after the 2003 invasion and until the massive new US “Embassy” complex was built at a cost of more than $750 million in 2004. (The American complex is devoid of architectural references to its Iraqi location.)

To the northeast corner of the compound, close to the Tigris River, lay the remnants of the former Republican Army base, now part of the vast US “Embassy” grounds.

The Republic Palace is back in use by the Shi’a dominated administration after refurbishment by a Turkish company for some $450 million.

An enormous degree of expense and aesthetic consideration went into its construction as recalled by its engineers today.

Lying outside the Green Zone, Uday Hussein’s former palace popularly dubbed the Sindbad Palace, renamed Al Salam Palace, performs state functions and was spared destruction in the 2003 onslaught, perhaps on account of its location in the crowded residential and commercial Karada district of east Baghdad.

The Radwaniyah Palace Complex

Located near Baghdad International Airport, the complex with its two man-made hills and lakes contains the two palaces of Al Faw Palace (named after the war with Iran in the Faw Peninsula of the Shatt al-Arab waterway) and the Victory Over Iran Palace.

Both buildings were heavily damaged during the 2003 bombardment and the destruction is still extremely shocking today. The damage remains despite the vast site having been taken over by the invading forces that then ironically dubbed it Camp Liberty, including units of Camp Victory, and Camp Slayer, respectively. (The last name is doubtless the most apt in light of the character of the invasion and subsequent occupation.) Saddam Hussein was imprisoned nearby until his transfer to the Shi’a dominated Kadhimiya district and his execution site, Camp Adala (Camp Justice) now occupied by the Iraqi forces and sealed from public view.

The Al-Rahman Mosque – stalled 2003

One of the most ambitious projects undertaken by Saddam Hussein in 1999, but left incomplete owing to the 2003 invasion, is the enormous structure situated in the heart of the affluent Sunni Mansour district with its eight structures and main central building in the shape of an eight-pointed star. Although work halted at the time of the invasion nineteen years ago, almost 80% of the substructure foundations and superstructure installation, columns and domes were completed by its engineers. 5000 underground piles went into it. Internal ground cladding was just begun. [20]

Possession of it after the Occupation was soon claimed by the Shi’a parties once they took over. It has since been used by the Shi’a militias, including the factions allied with the IRGC and its leaders. According to an extensive report published by Al Araby al-Jadeed (New Arab) in November 2017, the Former Director of the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in post before the invasion, Sheikh Ali Al-Badrany explained: “As soon as the American army entered Baghdad, the religious parties stormed the government headquarters, the palaces of former officials and mosques, and seized most of them… the “Virtue” Party close to Iran put is hand on Al-Rahman Mosque because of its vast area, and its location in the Al-Mansour neighbourhood…the mosque then turned into a den for militias linked with the party that divided it into party headquarters with a small training camp inside it and converting parts into parking. Members and families of the Virtue Party and its Raslioun militia from southern Iraq have squatted the mosque holding up the residents of Mansour for money. Robberies and kidnappings increased owing to their presence there.

Hordes of IDPs also camp around its edges for shelter. It has been conceived of as incorporating an Islamic university and colleges. Now it is home to the criminal militia.

The post-Ba’ath administration and Virtue Party has stolen and squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds and resources, including in Basra, yet they claim they could not afford to finish building Al-Rahman. [21]

Had they been Sunnis, like their neighbour, Turkish dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, no amount of expense would have been spared. The Turkish president has sought to outdo all others in his lavish mosque construction projects in Turkey and the construction of a 1000 room Presidential palace. He has also contributed to the restoration of Sunni Ottoman mosques in Algeria and Libya in the extension of his neo-Ottoman ambitions.

The Great Saddam Mosque – stalled 2003

Only the foundations, sub structure, main supporting columns and walls were completed at the time the US invasion was launched. The site remains today just as it was then with its cranes and girders, but a vast new high rise complex known as the Baghdad Gate project has gone up in the main section of the grounds within the former Al-Muthana Military Airport site. That project nears completion. In appearance it is like hundreds of those that have gone up in Beirut altering forever the human scale of the elegant old Mediterranean city.

End to heritage-based construction projects

The palace and mosque projects were managed by the President’s Palace Office designers and its architectural engineering department. One designer was responsible for the domes and minarets, another for interiors; head construction designers oversaw the projects, such that similarities exist between them but the scale and focus shifted.

The palace and mosque projects were a labour of love, of art and skilled craftsmanship.

Multi-coloured marble cladding adorned the walls and the interiors boasted fine wooden sculpture and joinery, as can still be seen in the abandoned Babylon Palace in Babel governorate overlooking the ancient ruins of Babylon itself. Detailed plasterwork is modelled on Moroccan and Andalusian techniques as in the palaces at Alhambra and Marrakech. The craftsmen worked together in their own special workshop devoted to the Presidential palaces. The head engineer and director of the Presidential Palaces Office had been Hussam Kadiri Bahnam who passed away from a heart attack.

The President, his secretary and his personal guards would visit the sites as the work progressed, sometimes making changes such as curves in place of rectangular edges and in the colour of the marble cladding or elimination of smaller arches to a plain shape. The visits usually took place in the quiet part of the late evenings and at random times when only the night watch – including one civil engineer and one electrical engineer and the security guards – were present. Comments from the visit would be relayed next day by Saddam Hussein’s secretary to the team. When the government was brought down, some of the new post Gulf War palaces were complete but not yet furnished or occupied and others were reaching different stages of completion. The earlier presidential structures existed before Saddam Hussein’s period in office. Most were attacked during the various wars and partially damaged, including under Operation Desert Fox with rockets falling on the heads of the engineers even as they worked on. Nearby buildings sometimes collapsed even as the palace buildings were struck and more than once. Most were never occupied by the president or his family on a regular or permanent basis. Tons of broken marble cladding lay in piles after each strike or continuous aesthetic changes, like Baghdad itself.

The future – hope enflamed by oppression

The Tishreen groundswell that turned into an organised opposition movement expressed its hopes and frustrations over reform in street art and in its protests with dramatic consequences. The Green Movement in Iran has fared the same and for the same reasons and against the very same forces.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards represent a force of repression, just as do their protegés among the Shi’a militias in Iraq. Political murders of activists and critics continue because these forces are committed to maintaining the rule of the clerics at all costs.

In the Kurdish north of the country, the tribal system continues to curtail social development and stifle social equality. The real, new, Peshmergas in spirit are in fact the protestors that “face death” in seeking to achieve their ideals just as did the earlier generations of Peshmergas in bearing arms against central government in the 1960s-1991.

Hope is a human quality. Even after almost two decades of hope being stifled by corruption, jihadist terror and Tehran-branded murder, the hopes of Iraqis have not been extinguished.

Photo: Great Mosque still unfinished, with main structural columns and walls apparent along with its cranes, Baghdad, Photo: c Sheri Laizer, 2021

References

– Barrrucand, Marianne, and Bednorz, Achim, Moorish Architecture in Andalusia, 2002.
– Coup de Soleil Association, De Courdoue a Palermo Un Dialogue en chemins, Paris and Maghreb, 2015.
– Al-Jibouri, Yasin T. and Sarhan, Layla Murad, Inside the Art Directorate of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, March 2018.
– Lovatt-Smith, Lisa, Moroccan Interiors, Taschen, 1995.
– Makiya, Kanan, The Monument, Art and Vulgarity in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Bloomsbury, 2003.
– Ahmed Naji, Under the Palm Trees: Modern Iraqi Art with Mohamed Makiya and Jewad Selim, Rizzoli, 2019.
– Pieri, Cecilia, Baghdad Arts Deco: Architectural Brickwork, 1920-1950, American University in Cairo, 2011.
– Le Strange, Guy, Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, reproduction, 2011, first published 1900, UK.
– Iraq Alahrar, June 05, 2008, by Ahmed Al-Jubouri Ibn Al Furat, The Role of Ali Hadi al-Yasiri in the sectarian killings after the Samarra incident that claimed the lives of 50,000 Iraqis.