American marines camped in Saddam’s palaces after months with no showers or toilets

Evidence

Sami’s company immediately settled into their base, one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces. This wasn’t a storybook castle. It was more like a gated community, a series of buildings on a huge plot of verdant land. The unit went to town. For months they’d had no showers, no toilets, and only packaged food. They felt less than human. Now they had a swimming pool, they had volleyball courts, they had electricity, cots and tents to sleep in, showers so they could feel clean again and reenter the world of the living. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 247