A New Peek Inside Saddam's Old Palaces

Flavorwire has an interview up with photographer Richard Mosse, who recently returned from Iraq, where he photographed what remains of Saddam Hussein's many palaces, which American soldiers have repurposed as combat headquarters. Snip:

This month, the American army is set to handover the last of the palaces back to the Iraqi army. Mosse, who has previously photographed war-torn areas of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, sat down with us to discuss his latest project and the deeply disturbing, though darkly humorous, aspects of the ongoing war in Iraq.

The Architecture of War: A Look at Saddam Hussein's Palaces (image, Richard Mosse, thanks, Caroline Stanley)

[#1 posted by Takuan, June 15, 2009 4:46 PM]

whatever happened...whatever happened to "Saddam's secret bunker city"?

[#2 posted by Stefan Jones, June 15, 2009 4:55 PM]

#1: Once it was cleared for WMDs it was turned back over to the Illuminati. Or the Gray Aliens. Or the

CONNECTION LOST

[#3 posted by benher, June 15, 2009 8:06 PM]

"American soldiers have repurposed as combat headquarters."

It's no wonder they welcomed us as liberators.

[#4 posted by Anonymous, June 15, 2009 9:30 PM]

Geoff had an interview with Richard up a few weeks ago:
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/saddams-palaces-interview-with-richard.html

[#5 posted by jerwin, June 15, 2009 9:35 PM]

The brightly colored walls of the "combat headquarters" partitions really distract from Sadaam's architecture. I suppose I should be grateful that the Defense Department has no sense of style, but I can't appreciate the sense of space (or lack of same) if so much is obscured.

It's certainly possible that Sadaam Hussein had no taste, but I can't make that determination for myself if the evidence is doctored.

[#6 posted by airshowfan, June 16, 2009 9:14 AM]

That picture looks like a screenshot from a FPS ;)