Iraq reclaims yacht

Opinion: November 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

By Ali Abu Iraq

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

BASRA, Iraq

Iraqi officials have acquired what they hope will become a major tourist attraction in Iraq’s second-largest city: a luxury yacht owned by Saddam Hussein.

The 82-meter-long vessel sailed into the port of Basra Nov. 2, where it was met by cheering crowds and senior government officials, who said its return symbolized the struggle of the Iraqi people.

“The return of the yacht means that peoples’ will is stronger than the tyrant’s. Saddam Hussein built this yacht to be used to his own personal purposes, but here it is returned to Iraqi people,” said Minister of Transportation Amer Abdul Jabbar.

The boat was later opened to the public, many of whom gaped at its opulence.

Saddam is particularly hated in the Basra region because he drained the region’s vital waterways, despoiled thousands of acres of farmland and brutally subdued the local Shia population.

Built in 1981 for an estimated $25 million, the 14-room yacht boasts a helicopter pad, gold-plated plumbing and a submarine. Formerly the Ocean Breeze, the boat was renamed Basra Breeze at the homecoming event.

Ownership of the Breeze hasn’t always been clear. According to Mahdi Ali Askar, the general director of naval transportation, the boat was removed from Basra during the Iran-Iraq War and later given as a gift to the Saudi royal family who, in turn, presented it to the royal family of Jordan.

There were reports that it was sold to a Moroccan company and used to ferry well-heeled passengers from Paris to Rabat, Morocco. Transportation Minister Abdul Jabbar said the boat has spent years home ported in Nice on the French Riviera.

“The yacht was in France and there were lots of debts. There were threats to seize and confiscate it, but finally after 2003, we demanded it back. After difficult negotiations we were able to pay the debts and get it,” said Abdul Jabbar.

The government reportedly sought to sell the boat for $30 million, but failed to attract a buyer, so decided to return it to Iraq instead.

“We will develop a plan to upgrade it and then we will turn this yacht into a tourist facility to serve the Iraqi people,” Abdul Jabbar said.

Some aren’t impressed.

“People care more about getting clean water and 24 hours of electricity than this yacht. Life here will still be the same with our without it,” Ameen Ali, a student in Basra, said.

Ali Abu Iraq is a reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.