While serving as a soldier in Iraq, I had the opportunity to visit one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. The Al Faw Palace in Baghdad is decorated with beautiful hand painted script that rhythmically dances along many of the walls, doors, and ceilings. The script is demonstrates a wholehearted commitment to excellence in craftsmanship. Much of the script is written with gold paint that contains flakes of 24 karat gold.

As I moved about the palace I kept seeing one portion of script over and over again. I began to wonder if this particular portion of text was important because it was displayed in almost every room in

the palace. Could it be from the Koran – I asked myself? The text was even chiseled into marble stone in various spots.

Later, I found out that the text translated to “Long Live Saddam”. I also discovered that much of the other script paid tribute to Saddam’s empire. One particularly beautiful portion of script spoke of Iraq’s victory over Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. In the brutal Iran-Iraq War war over one million Iraqi and Iranian soldiers died and many more were wounded. It was then I realized that context doesn’t always follow content. I would have never guessed that such a beautifully scripted font spoke of war.