Saddam Hussein

Ocean Breeze Yacht Back in Iraq, Could Be For Sale Again

The Ocean Breeze (also known as the Basrah Breeze), the yacht once owned by Saddam Hussein, is back in Iraqi waters after a long legal battle that determined that the yacht belonged to Iraq and not Jordan. The yacht was in France for a time but then went to Greece for renovations.

An article on ITN quotes Mehdi Ali, director general of the Iraqi Maritime Company who said that the damaged parts of the yacht were repaired and the yacht went through the Suez canal, to the United Arab Emirates and then home to Basra. Iraq plans to put the yacht back on the market again. It failed to sell in 2008 when it was priced at $30 million. It's not clear if the yacht's over-the-top gilled and marble decor has been updated. The yacht was launched in 1981 and included safety features like a bulletproof atrium with banquet seating for 200, two medical treatment centers and a mini operating theater, and a helipad. No word yet on how much the 269-foot yacht will be listed for this time.

Gallery: Ocean Breeze

Tags: basra, basrah breeze, iraq, ocean breeze, Saddam Hussein

No Sale For Saddam's Yacht

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

Even a government can't sell a yacht in these tough times. The 269-foot yacht that once belonged to Saddam Hussein has failed to sell. The yacht will be towed from Greece to a Basra, Iraq. The Iraqi government has had the yacht on sale for $30 million since last fall. The yacht, was done up for Saddam Hussein in a lavish style with marble and gold and features a bulletproof atrium, two medical treatment centers and a swimming pool. It had been in Greece for maintenance work.

Gallery: Ocean Breeze

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Tags: iraq, ocean breeze, OceanBreeze, saddam hussein, SaddamHussein

Saddam Hussein's Yacht for Sale at $30 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

Back in August, my colleague Deidre Woollard reported on a court ruling that Saddam Hussein's yacht Basra Breeze (formerly Ocean Breeze) belonged to the Iraqi government after a Cayman island firm partly owned by King Abdullah of Jordan claimed possession. Now the Iraqis have put the 269-ft. megayacht up for sale with a pricetag of $30 million, but the décor is so tacky and outdated it will require at least another $30 million to overhaul the ship, the London Times reports.

Launched in 1981, the ship features acres of marble and gold, Arabesque arches, dark wood carvings, "deep pile carpets in lurid colours and rugs woven with views of holy cities", and gold faucets in the bathrooms. There's also a bulletproof atrium with banquet seating for 200, two medical treatment centers and a mini operating theater, and a helipad. In Saddam's time the ship had a crew of up to 35 on 24-hour call, but the dictator was so paranoid he barely ever left Iraq or spent any time onboard.

Gallery: Ocean Breeze

Tags: Iraq, Saddam Hussein, SaddamHussein, Yacht

Saddam's Yacht Belongs To Iraq

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

Just a follow-up on a story we've been following for a while. The lavish 269-foot yacht which once belonged to Saddam Hussein will be headed back to Iraq. Sail World reports that though the Cayman island firm Sudeley, which is part-owned by King Abdullah of Jordan, told a French commercial court in Nice that it is the legal owner, that claim was rejected for lack of evidence. They ruled that ownership should be given back to Iraq. Saddam Hussein had ordered the lavish yacht in 1981 but never took delivery of it. He was afraid that it would be bombed and so he left it in Jeddah Harbor in the hands of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family, who named it the Royal Yacht Al Yamamah (The Dove). The yacht has accommodations for 28 in one master cabin, nine double cabins and four twin cabins as well as room for 35 crew. Rumor has it that the yacht has a hospital, swimming pools, gold taps, and a mosque as well as a missile defense system and a mini-submarine. She was renamed the Ocean Breeze and last year Sudeley tried to sell it for $34.45 million through Burgess.

Riviera Radio reports that the yacht has now left Nice port and is on its way to Greece and that she may end up anchored in Basra harbor and turned into a museum.

Gallery: Ocean Breeze

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Tags: ocean breeze, saddam hussein, SaddamHussein, yacht

The Fight Over Saddam's Yacht

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

The Ocean Breeze, the lavish 269-foot yacht which once belonged to Saddam Hussein has been listed for sale for $34.45 million but now a French court has frozen the sale until the true owners can be established. The yacht has been moored at Nice since 2003 and is decorated with gold, silver, mahogany and marble (check out our gallery of the yacht from last November). The Iraq government is the chief contender for being the owner but it spent ten years in Saudi waters with 35 crew on permanent standby. Last spring the Saudis offered it to King Abdullah II of Jordan but Iraqi authorities said the yacht should be handed over to them. In the Guardian, the yacht broker Burgess, said that the sale is still going forward. Other assets of Saddam and his regime in France include two villas near Cannes.

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Tags: iraq, ocean breeze, saddam hussein, SaddamHussein, yacht

Buy Saddam's Bling

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Writing Instruments, Celebrity Shopping

Saddam Hussein was a rich man, and now that he's gone some of his "bling" is going up for sale.

Well, it's supposedly his bling. We have Haitham Wihaib's word (an ex Saddam Hussein employee) that the items he's putting up for sale (including a custom-made gold and diamond Rolex, Dior sunglasses, and a Cartier pen with which Saddam was rumored to sign death warrants) used to belong to the famous Iraqi tyrant. Overall Wihaib hopes to raise £350,000 from the sale, to be put towards Iraqi schools.

Personally I don't care what the reason, I wouldn't buy that creep's stuff for any amount of money.

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Tags: cartier, dior, Hussein, iraq, pen, rolex, Saddam, Saddam Hussein, SaddamHussein, sale, sunglasses, timepiece, watch