Saddam's love shack

[Vinnie Moscaritolo]

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WAR_SADDAMS_HIDEAWAY?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL

Troops Discover Lush Saddam Hideaway

By CHRIS TOMLINSON
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The doors of the town house opened to reveal a 
playboy's fantasy straight from the 1960s: mirrored bedroom, lamps 
shaped like women, airbrushed paintings of a topless blonde woman and 
a mustached hero battling a crocodile.

Troops thought it was the home of Saddam Hussein's mistress, though 
on the wall and in the bedroom were photos of the Iraqi president and 
a woman who appeared to be his wife. The company commander suspected 
they had found one of the Iraqi leader's many safe houses.

"This must have been Saddam's love shack," said Sgt. Spencer 
Willardson of Logan, Utah.

The split-level, one-bedroom town house is in a Baath Party enclave 
in an upscale neighborhood in central Baghdad where generals and 
senior party officials lived.

Next door, where iron sheets were welded over all the windows, they 
found more than 6,000 Berretta pistols, 650 Sig Sauer pistols, 248 
Colt Revolvers, 160 Belgian 7.65 mm pistols, 12 cases of Sterling 
submachine guns and four cases of anti-tank missiles all still in the 
unopened original boxes. There were also tens of thousands of rounds 
of ammunition mortars and cases of old handguns and heavy machine 
guns.

Not far off was another presidential palace, this one with a 
Yugoslav-built, chemical and biological weapons-proof bunker 
underneath it. A U.S. Army team inspected it and it appeared to be 
strictly defensive in nature.

But this home was different: beanbag chairs, a garden of plastic 
plants, a sunken kitchen and a room for a servant, all 1960s-style.

The sunken wet bar was stocked with 20-year old Italian red wines and 
expensive cognacs, brandies and Scotch whiskeys, the same brands 
found in several presidential palaces.

The glassware, too, was the same pattern that was found in at least 
three palaces also visited by U.S. troops since the regime collapsed. 
The pattern features the Iraqi government seal and a gold pattern on 
that rim.

But when it came time to eat dinner, Saddam was served his food on 
the official fine china of the Kuwaiti royal family, complete with 
the family seal and gold and maroon trim.

Capt. Chris Carter, commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th 
Infantry Regiment, said the home appears to be one of Saddam's safe 
houses. Officials concluded that the house was used by Parisoula 
Lampsos, who publicly claimed to be Saddam's mistress. She escaped to 
Lebanon in 2002.

Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah, is also his cousin. Together 
they had three daughters and two sons, Odai and Qusai. Like her 
husband, her whereabouts are unknown. Saddam is widely known to have 
a third son, Ali, by another woman.

Lampsos was interviewed extensively about her relationship with 
Saddam on U.S. television. Her current location is unknown and she 
was last believed to be in hiding.

The photos show Saddam and a woman smiling at each other and standing 
beside one another - in one Saddam wears a uniform and in another a 
suit.

On one wall was a 16-by-20 inch plaque of the Iraqi eagle and flag seal.

Upstairs was a television room with bright blue, pink and yellow 
throw pillows. The bathroom included a whirlpool bath. The kingsize 
bed was fitted into an alcove with mirrors on two sides and a fantasy 
painting on the third.

The closets and drawers were empty except for a man's night shirt, 
two pairs of boxer shorts, two T-shirts and a bath robe - each item 
individually wrapped in plastic, just as similar items had been in 
the palaces.

One of the airbrushed paintings depicted a topless blonde woman, with 
a green demon behind her, pointing a finger at a mythic hero. From 
the tip of her finger came a giant serpent, which had wrapped itself 
around the warrior.

Another showed a buxom woman chained to a barren desert mountain 
ledge, with a huge dragon diving down to kill her with sharpened 
talons.

The home's 1960s look - parodied in the series of "Austin Powers" spy 
spoofs - inspired a round of imitations from soldiers slogging door 
to door.

"Yeah, baaabeee," said Carter, doing his best imitation of actor Mike 
Myers' character.

"Shagadelic," another soldier shouted.

Indeed, the carpet was navy blue shag
-- 

Vinnie Moscaritolo                                          ITCB-IMSH
PGP: 3F903472C3AF622D5D918D9BD8B100090B3EF042
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"Stuff is getting better. Stuff is getting better all the time."
				- President Starky

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