Search casts light on life of luxury

THE vast lawns, portico and grand entrance hall were eerily quiet and empty. No one appeared in the windows. No one was there to smell the rows of pale yellow roses.

When a president like Saddam Hussein has dozens of palaces, any one of them, like Al-Sajoud, can stand idle for many days at a time hidden, silent and beautiful.

The quiet was broken yesterday, first by a dozen United Nations arms inspectors who showed up at the gates and demanded immediate entry to the vast site.

After the inspectors left after only 90 minutes, the peace was disturbed further by more than 100 reporters who were allowed a rare look at the grandiose lifestyle of a Middle Eastern autocrat.

What the journalists saw silenced even the most jaded among them.

Built in a modern Islamic style, the palace has soaring arched windows, an enormous sky-blue dome, and a facade of tan brick that stretches for hundreds of yards.

A flourish of Arabic calligraphy on the portico announces the name of the palace, Al-Sajoud, an Arabic word signifying the Islamic act of kneeling in prayer.

Further back, the intricately carved wooden doors are inset with another seal, in gold, that bears the initials "SH".

When the tall doors swung open, they revealed an entry hall that made the reporters gasp.

It is an octagonal space, three stories high and with walls of white marble, exquisitely worked in Islamic patterns. It is illuminated by a glittering gilt-and-crystal chandelier.

In the middle of the hall sat models of Al-Sajoud itself which was charred and holed from US bombing in the 1991 Gulf War, and then restored to its gleaming self.

Al-Sajoud is part of a sprawling presidential neighbourhood that runs along a bend in the Tigris River in western Baghdad.

It includes the Republican Palace which is home to Saddam's executive offices.

Across the road stands the massive headquarters of the ruling Baath Party, an edifice that dwarfs most government buildings in Washington.

After taking full command of oil-rich Iraq in 1979, Saddam went on a spree of palace-building. He is known to travel among them often, partly because he fears assassination.

He usually spends only a brief period in one palace before moving to another.