Home of the Soul Cookie

It’s an update from Tom!

From: Bender Morris T LTJG
Date: Nov 14, 2006 10:51 AM
Subject: [U] Where I Spend My Day
To: [a bunch of people]
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

I thought it might be a good idea to tell everyone a little about where I spend a large portion of my day. In actuality it is about half of my day, but since 8 hours (once I get adjusted to an 8-hour time change) is spent sleeping, it constitutes about three-quarters of my time. [If I lost you, trust me. If you don't trust me, I'll send you a PowerPoint presentation (we use the words "death by PowerPoint" often in the military) stepping you through the formulas and equations. After that, you'll learn to never doubt me again].

The rest, including an explanation behind the name of the “Perfume Palace” (pictured above) plus a really nice shout-out to my blog, after the cut.

Tom’s email continues:

My time is spent in what has come to be known as the “Perfume Palace.” I was quite interested in what exactly the Perfume Palace was before coming here. On the outside, the Palace is a three-story domed marble building. The floors are each about 30 feet in height making it roughly an 8-story building by normal figures. It is roughly round in shape, but looking at it from the top, it takes more the shape of a budding flower. Imagine a circle in the center with an oval nearly surrounding it. The entrance being a keystone shape protruding from the end of the oval. Now you may say, “Hey, I’ve looked at the links at the bottom and in some of the pictures it looks like there are four floors.” In a way, you’d be correct. However, the main building (the circle) has three floors. Between the second and third floor, wrapping around the building is a half-floor. There is a set of stairs in the back of the second floor that takes you here. Personally, I’ve never been up them as I believe they are offices. And random offices around here can potentially have more brass than I do. Better safe than sorry.

Anyway, to see it is to be amazed. I was amazed that people put that much time and work into building such an awesome structure. I was amazed a structure this size and of this magnitude was built for a single family. I was amazed that so much money that could have been used to help so many people in the country and the world was spent on such an unnecessary thing.

The question always comes up as to why it’s called the “Perfume Palace.” A quick search on the internet explains it all. The Palace was used as the brothel of the Hussein family. Specifically, it is said to be the brothel for Saddam’s sons Uday and Husay. I doubt daddy would have let his son’s have ALL the fun though. Some even say it was used by high ranking Generals and Baath Party members. As it’s told, when the Coalition Forces liberated the country, while other places smelled of battle, this place smelled of the perfume from al the concubines housed over the years.

Now anyone who’s worked computers knows, most wires are run through the floor. So, most office spaces are built on a supper-floor above the real floor. Here is no different. I have been told, however, that somewhere underneath everything, on the main floor, is a huge indoor pool on which the men would sit while all the naked women walked/bathed/swam around. The second floor is a massive round room with a huge marble column in the center. Frankly, this room makes me think Vegas. It looks like the sort of room where you’d have dollar slots. Eight crystal chandeliers provide way too much light (so we only run four of them) and are each 6-8 feet tall each. I’m unsure as to what, exactly, this room was used for, but then again, why they needed a building this large as a brothel for three guys also eludes me. The third floor is a large domed ballroom. What sense a ballroom in a brothel makes is also a bit beyond me, but when I say large, I mean large. I’d estimate 90 feet circular with a dome that reaches about 80 feet from the floor. The square footage alone is about five times the size of Sarah and my first house in Georgia (only we didn’t have a vaulted ceiling). There are bronze-colored scallops that run around the dome (sort of like sci-fi doors the “whoosh” open in a spiral motion) giving the feeling of a large fan attached to the ceiling. In the center hangs, by far, the largest crystal chandelier I have ever seen. It is at least 30 feet in height and about half the width of the dome.

Overall, the building is an awesome sight. But when you really look at it, you see the construction isn’t the best. The lights are hung questionably, the walls don’t quite meet well, and the stairs are slightly crooked. But then, if you spend enough time in any place, eventually you’ll see to flaws. I try to separate the construction flaws from the blemishes imposed by time spent as an occupied establishment. We moved in and set up offices where none existed. We set up temporary walls, made toilet facilities, mounted lighting, and ran cable. I find myself sometimes wondering what the Palace looked in its pristine state. Unfortunately, even once all Coalition Forces are gone, it will never look the way it once did.

For more pics and info on the building, you can take a look at these links:

gallery.completecomputing.com/userpublic/christian/boolean/album07/aaa.jpg.html (external photo)

www.beans-around-the-world.com/baghdad.html (first 2 pics are the palace. other pic is another shelled out building here at Slayer)

midnight.hushedcasket.com/2006/05/17/the-perfume-palace-baghdad/ (marine’s blog about his time here)

findthegood.blogspot.com/2006/10/perfume-palace.html (external photo and discussion by an English teacher in Iraq)

www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/radwaniyah-cc.htm (not really a Perfume Palace link, but talks about it…good Camp Slayer link, though)

As an aside to this, I’d like to thank Kevin for reposting these emails on his blog site. It certainly helps spread my audience to include people I’ve lost contact with (Noelle) and even more people I’ve never even known. For those who aren’t reading this through his blog, you can find it at www.soulcookie.com. If you are reading it through there, I wasn’t excluding you…you already know the address. Please take a moment to check out his site.

With that, I am going to turn in. It is time for bed. The days are long, the nights are short, but the support we give is priceless.

Tom

Thanks, Tom!