Inside look at Saddam's "Crossed Sabers" Parade Stadium - 2004

In mid-2004, we had a chance to take a tour of Saddam Hussein's famous "Crossed Sabers" parade ground (formally known as the "Victory Arches"). This was an inside look at the stadium where Saddam would officiate his military rallies. Our tour guide was an Iraqi Force Protection Officer (Security police for the Green Zone.... as it was known at the time).
Our guide did tell us the story of how Saddam took away his house under the former regime, but that part deserves its own segment. I will post it soon as a separate video, so stay tuned!
Keep in mind, this was filmed only about 1 year after the war started, very little had been cleaned up since the fighting to capture the city by the time I got there. I often wonder what it looks like in there now.....

[@Masada1911]

You were doing better quality vlogs in 2004 than most people in 2019. I hope these tapes end up in a historical archive somewhere someday. These could be invaluable to future historians. I really hope your tour guide is doing well.

[@ClivonBarris]

Looking for them weapons of mass destruction and vlogging 😰😰

[@haileygames3447]

These vids r gonna be watched in schools in the future lol

[@picasso9555]

@@haileygames3447 to be fair in 2100, every video on youtube will be used to determine what daily life was for people who lived in the 2010s and 2020s

[@bearcatftball61]

beast no shit, who would’ve thunk?

[@kalapoikedeviere7962]

@@picasso9555 oh god, it would be hilarious to see that if i lived to my 100s, and i'll whine to those kids, boomer style. Now it'd feel weird if they archived the comment sections too, meaning they could see me lol

[@Hawkens85]

He sleeps in in the former bedroom of a tyrant...."why not? He took my house." Wow. Love this guy. Hope he's doing well.

[@jd8183]

Stay tuned... he told us that story. I’ll drop that one before too long.

[@romandude7740]

Yeah more videos wahooo

[@sttran3460]

yes, we all saw the same video

[@liammiddleton3064]

What?

[@southboston7239]

Drop it on 5 years lol

[@Th3Siam]

Yo tell me about the guy who got smacked by the blueberry muffin.

[@anonflex]

I keep waiting for that video

[@katsup606]

@@anonflex and we keep waiting for the guy to wake up from the muffin coma.

[@angelbonebreak1135]

@@katsup606 damn right XD

[@Muz710]

Huh? I want know what you know!

[@aaronpalomo3497]

Hell yea was they playing baseball???

[@codylowder]

I love almost every vid this guy posts it is like a blast from the past

[@jd8183]

“Almost”...? ;-)

[@romandude7740]

Yea I love the all

[@kawecksshenanigans8010]

Yes almost a blast from the past ;-)

[@sshmi3081]

i wish it was more than just 5 videos...

[@codylowder]

@@jd8183 oh?

[@MegaMoto85]

Great video, your "tour guide" seems like a really nice guy

[@jd8183]

He was. In fact, most of the Iraqis I met were just like him, good people just trying to get by.

[@romandude7740]

Very nice guy

[@pupplementarypupplements5804]

@@jd8183 thanks for doing their souls justice bro, you seem like a good dude yourself

[@mixuzi4520]

Ikr

[@donnythagurb9312]

Oh yeah yeah they have always been good people it was a small part that wasn’t Iraqi it was from other parts of there enemy’s that turned Iraq into a war zone just like if Spain invaded the us with a bunch of troops and shit we would end up just like Iraq.

[@jwheeler1106]

I love that you’re doing this, the historical significance is great and it’s basically the 21st century equivalent of Civil War journals. Keep at it!

[@attiladamirchi939]

Deserves way more views, that right there is history boys.

[@bonkyo]

ive noticed scott is in a lot of ur videos, are you guys still friends to this day? do you even have contact with each other?

[@tonylopez6585]

Scott is funny as hell bro Fr!!

[@walewiadr0155]

he probably died

[@pepealasquid6005]

WaleWiadr0 he’s stated in the description that any videos where someone who died are in it are not public out of respect

[@MD_Films]

WaleWiadr0 He didn’t die, he said that all the soldiers shown in the videos are alive and fine, and anyone he did film and they died he didn’t post out of respect.

[@bonkyo]

Brewskiii MD that’s good then

[@mohammedalmosawy901]

@9:49 u misunderstood him. He’s pointing at the house of the former minister of defence. And telling u that Saddam had him killed by blowing up his helicopter.

[@hakarkurd5216]

he is mentioning ministry of defence brother of Saddam's wife

[@mirrors800]

the building that he meant ..called Adnan Palace related to Adnan khairullah name ..the guy thought it was ministry building

[@user-jn3on9qf1s]

​@@mirrors800عدنان خير الله طفاح اخو زوجه الرئيس صدام راعب بوش 😂

[@feuerjager6]

These videos inspire me to take videos of my deployments when fighting fires in the Australian bush!

[@jd8183]

You should! History will remember this time.

[@frontlinefirey5595]

Hey man, this is the OP of the comment. Set up a new channel for my vids, should be a video up there soon if you want to see what Australian firefighting is like.

[@myg0t_jsm]

@@frontlinefirey5595 how many Dingoes have died?

[@frontlinefirey5595]

@@myg0t_jsm Too many

[@garygrandy9443]

Hells yeah! I'm forever thankful to my friend who carried a camera during our stint in the army. Those few pics and videos feel like a worth of gold these days.

[@greedy_boi]

I love your channel man! It's really nice to see footage of something other than the usual combat. I love that these videos show soldiers being people. It's cool that these videos resemble a standard KZbin video you'd see today, except it's the early 2000's and in a warzone. Thank you for your service and keep these videos flowing man!

[@DudeInWalmart]

What happen to saddam's chair? Some marine took it as a souvenir?

[@jd8183]

Something like that, yes.

[@romandude7740]

Haha awesome

[@diligentone-six2688]

@@jd8183 it's a shame tho. That piece of history should remain where it is.

[@jd8183]

I agree. I wasn’t a fan of the graffiti in there either

[@myg0t_jsm]

@@jd8183 iraqis looted the chair

[@Wuaff23]

Pete wasnt feeling it that day

[@matthewholehouse2718]

I've watched a couple of your vlogs JD and I must say, as someone who was only six years old in 2005, these video snapshots you've shown of your time in Iraq are fascinating to me; and I can honestly say I've learnt more through watching your videos than I have from tv documentaries.

[@ReaperCH90]

Fun fact: when he filmed this, the word vlog did not exist. Blog was probably just established. KZbin might have not even been online yet.

[@iambadger6893]

Thank you for publishing these. Its amazing to go back into time like this.

[@romandude7740]

We all love these videos JD! Keep them coming if you can

[@jd8183]

Stay tuned!

[@romandude7740]

I will!!! 🇺🇸

[@hdjono3351]

J D where they at man! we all wanna see more it’s so interesting!

[@slugnation1699]

@@jd8183 Where the videos at brother? I think we gotta get you a Netflix series :)

[@alexioscoulissegur6733]

@@jd8183 8 month later

[@saintsauce853]

Just found this channel and I’m glad I did. This is history right here and a viewpoint you don’t see often in wars. I am supposed to go to Army bootcamp in August but we still aren’t sure due to this damn virus. Thank you for posting this stuff man!

[@bluenexus1212]

Good luck brother, it's gonna suck, but you'll get through it if you take it one day at a time, good luck!

[@cropsy1]

Mad to think i was 9 or 10 at this point in time, i remember sadams name being thrown around alot as a youngun but never fully understood the war, only now after seeing these vidoes it has lead me to read alot into why things happend and stuff, its mad how much politics can change with the times, brilliant vids mate love em all

[@bobthebuilder1360]

I was only like 5

[@ad8110]

I was the same age like 8 or 9, but I remember this stuff kinda vividly. I remember 9/11 on the, I remember the shots of the ranks rolling in. But what i remember the most about this is the sentiment and the fervor of this time. It was just this chaotic energy, this fervor again. We grew up in a working class multicultural part of California and by 2009 I was meeting with army and navy recruiters about signing up. Never did but I remember this time vividly

[@thecaninecultivatordog_far5777]

I wasn't even born yet, only a few months later I would be born. Surreal

[@Hunter_Stonestreet]

I was like -3

[@koft_nedted]

Man hes gonna run out of footage one day, love these vids though

[@tonylopez6585]

Always pessimistic

[@MD_Films]

He said he took 8 hours of footage, they’ll be quite a bit more footage in the future hopefully.

[@Chi26trojans]

This is the kind of entertainment I look for on KZbin. Thanks for uploading!

[@jordi2146]

I was like 4 years old when this happened, it feels so weird to look at this video after all this time

[@DrPhil-nv5fg]

I love seeing these 15 year old tapes and seeing how it was like for you guys back then.

[@EnterpriseKnight]

7:08 as an italian, I can confirm that we used that panel everywhere mostly in the 1980s up to 1995.

[@G3000]

Glad you're still uploading :)

[@Brendissimo1]

So impactful hearing him talk about Saddam living in luxury, surrounded by pricey Italian marble while thousands of Iraqis were dying in the war with Iran.

[@jonnysimeon9193]

I love how they’re just casually walking around while there was gunfire in the background

[@codylowder]

I don't think that what gunfire

[@-__9767]

Sans Mans pretty sure that was a helicopter

[@jerrell1169]

Cody Lowder You can hear some around 0:51 but the original comment is stupid. Why would he be worried about distant fire on the edge of the city?

[@sweetballs4742]

@@jerrell1169 stray bullets probably

[@alexmason2659]

@@sweetballs4742 he said edge of the city which is a probably a few miles away from the center where they are

[@angelbonebreak1135]

Currently watched all of your blog and they are all so beautiful and made me smile ;w; i hope you and your team are doing well at this time of 2020 And thank you for your service QwQ)/💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

[@bartorzech21]

These are great videos, thanks for uploading them!

[@justinfournette343]

Anxiously waiting for part 2 to drop 🙏🏻😭

[@LifeIsToughUSSR]

It's nice to see the other branches and what they did. I was a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force during all this and man was it crazy. Love the videos man.

[@EssenceYT]

These videos are great, not only they are high quality, but it has some certain charm to it and holds a historical significance, good shit.

[@dan7446]

Thank you so much for putting these videos out there. Crazy to think this was 16 years ago, I often wonder where these people are and what they do nowadays (if they're still alive).

[@barsdogukankarakoyun8798]

He said everyone on his public videos returned home safely

[@andrealaperni9863]

I'm from Italy and I can tell that's a "roman travertino marble", very expensive, it's not the most expensive tho

[@lance_wavy]

These videos have been really interesting and I'm looking forward for more! Hope you guys are doing well today and Scott too! Hahaha

[@verox2820]

Just watched all of your vlogs man so great!!

[@Dr.HannibalLecterVIII]

JD, I demand an update vlog from you.

[@Logann192]

Elizabeth Esposito for real I want to see how he’s doing now, hope he’s living the best life

[@DepecheGuy99]

Hey J D! Thank you for your vlog series! I hope you are doing well man. I was 4 when the war started and i still remember all the news and footage on television. Feels awesome to watch these videos. Can't wait to see more videos of your soldier life in Iraq!. Take care man! Greetings from Venezuela.

[@carladanyal1445]

Me too I was 3 years old when this war started and I grow up with this war and I still remember the events of the war

[@DepecheGuy99]

@@carladanyal1445 Yeah, i have many vivid memories from back then!

[@zezozezon8291]

7:18 He was about to say Italia like the guide, then remembered it’s actually Italy 😂😂

[@hakarkurd5216]

Hahahah good point😂

[@garygrandy9443]

The tour guide actually said it the way the Italians pronounce it.

[@swacks7960]

@@garygrandy9443 in arabic italy is also italia lol

[@hoodlum4511]

Just finished watching all of your videos, JD. And let me tell you this, your videos are more entertaining then any big budget movies😊. Hope you're doing well.

[@agentham]

Thanks for uploading these videos. Super interesting part of history.

[@EM.1]

Thanks for your update! I find this video extremely informative, it should be shown in history class. As half Italian, the marble is probably Carrara Marble, extremely expensive especially in large size single cut pieces.

[@andrealaperni9863]

it's not from carrara, it's a travertino marble type, from rome, still super expensive tho

[@EM.1]

@Andrea Laperni yes I forgot about Travertino, which is the most used in many architectural structures in Italy, and in Europe in general, also in many decorative artifacts. I assumed it was from Carrara because internationally speaking it’s the most known, and considered the most “fashion for fancy rich people that want to show off luxury style” so I immediately thought it was a superficial show off, but apparently the variety of Italian marbles it’s more known in the sandbox, than in many developed countries. Sadly the marble got spray painted, and at today’s who knows it’s conservation status. I’m bilingual in Italian but I my grandparents were Italians my parents are both born from Italians in USA they and me have just got the Italian citizenships by ius sanguinis (by blood). Happy to know that you give me more information about the type of marble, thank you 😊.

[@bubsterjohnson7438]

​@@EM.1i dont know poop about Marble but hearing you talk about it makes me want to lol

[@55inchSamsungTV]

Man, any chance you have any other videos to upload? These are a goldmine. Also, you should do an update video with yourself. I feel like you have a little community now and we'd love to know how you're doing, although I know you have stuff written in your description but a video would be cool.

[@435iceyy9]

Facts

[@Jojo-vt7dv]

I was a couple of months old when this was recorded, time flies by fast.

[@user-nn1sx4xp6o]

U been to iraq?

[@EnterpriseKnight]

honestly, for 2004 the audio is pretty damn good.

[@bama1usaf]

I had the same tour guide in 2005.🤣🤣🤣

[@user-nn1sx4xp6o]

Really lol

[@provetamin]

your videos are truly amazing man.

[@austindavis3583]

Imagine being so powerful that you have a stadium to show off your army.

[@tobe1207]

Imagine being powerful enough to send a bunch of 18-20yr olds with heavy weaponry to take the first guy down

[@armybeef68]

Imagine being so powerful you can kills thousands of men women and children with gas

[@jaypea30]

It's a display of power. Not actual power itself.

[@laynestaley6512]

I love your videos, keep posting it!

[@nuclearkamikaze]

Haven’t subscribed to anyone in years. Can’t wait for more videos!

[@redaal-asadi206]

Dude I'm from Iraq and yet I fuckin enjoy your videos this shit is history .... post more of these.

[@spartacus8189]

Fascinating stuff man, thank you so much

[@almost_god776]

These videos are amazing ! Post more if you have.

[@romandude7740]

O man that’s a great video, fun to get a look at the area, very intriguing Your friend Pete doesn’t seem as enthusiastic tho haha

[@Zakkary]

Let's see some more some more specialist Scott and specialist Dylan at play. Your channel is actually fun and makes heart of light-hearted situation.

[@Leonardvondelray]

Love the channel keep uploading

[@willysmith]

Are you going to upload more anytime soon ? Really interesting

[@danielbateman6518]

Hopefully there's more of Scott, he seems like a great guy.

[@enheduanna2162]

scott was with him in the video

[@loganfritz1095]

These are awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[@user-gb6lr6qd2d]

i like that i find this video each year it’s just interesting and cool

[@vancedyt2639]

Only putting the video online 16 years later, so not to trouble your guide. Hats off to you 🎩👏. I wonder 🤔 where is that agent now?

[@dcisking1033]

I hope he uploads again soon, these videos are so interesting

[@SpanishDio]

Love your videos much respect from Spain!

[@monkey0427]

Really hoping we can see more footage soon, I love history and this has been so interesting to watch

[@dimezreconB4]

Memory lane. Stopped by there a few times. Good shit, bro.

[@Nathan-ut4vy]

Please make an update video I’m so invested in your channel

[@jacobhuckleberry1364]

It must have been amazing to take part of history like you did glad you where smart and brought a camera to document it

[@joeloya1153]

i'm loving these videos man

[@BeggarSoldier]

Thank you so much for sharing this. Very enjoyable and very interesting to watch. God bless!

[@relocated9655]

I really enjoy these videos, thank you for your service friend and I hope your doing well, looking forward to more!

[@phoenixking2406]

Thank u and every soldier for your service. I love these videos as well as many others. I hope u upload more in the future.

[@theonitaz8145]

holy shit i remember watching this video and then losing and i have finally found this channel again after a year of trying to find it

[@ddtyterminator5018]

man need more of such vids. brings a whole new view to their world. different from the news

[@Nick-420-]

I love this channel!

[@OliRotMG]

hey J D still have more vids comin up from this? or other times in another country? love watching those

[@Inlinetodie]

This footage should be considered historic Thank you for uploading Longo Vivas Tempore

[@joshgoshgaming3049]

Thank you for your service and for sharing you experience with us some of us(me ofc) weren't born yet so this is amazing to see

[@joshgoshgaming3049]

I was born mid 2004

[@slugnation1699]

@@joshgoshgaming3049 same here August 23

[@BigMarquise]

I was born later 2004, October.

[@-SidneyPrescott]

i was 2

[@alva_plays_games2866]

Hey guys just watched every video thx for these time capsule’s

[@Xardas105]

Why did it take you so long before uploading these vids?

[@svenll7570]

Hey man hopefully you got more footage these are more than amazing

[@spitfire8790]

Great work man! i was wondering what J D stands for? In your christmas video from 2004 if i recall correctly E-4 "Specialist scott" said that "there was a sighting of santa claus in J D" or did i missheard it? I hope you're doing great as well as specialist scott and everyone that served with you.

[@jmasters7515]

I love these videos and would find it really interested if you made an update video about your life after Iraq

[@OfflineTillee]

Dude you better keep uploading!

[@hermia1310]

This is so cool! I hope you’re doing well 😊

[@JohnDoe-rt7ve]

These tapes are absolutely awesome...

[@rocco2750]

this is vary interesting and nicely filmed.

[@concentratecorner1744]

are ya gonna post the part about sadam taking his house? looking forward to hearing the story

[@rocny1008]

camera work in these videos is actually amazing for home videos in early 2000s

[@realshaggy6984]

Will you ever upload again

[@kawecksshenanigans8010]

I fucking love these videos brother. It gives people a valuable insight on what most people likely won’t see in their life. Thanks for your service.

[@talentheturtle]

Thank you for these glimpses of history

[@beloveskoo]

Please upload more of these!

[@djfhsusbruh6698]

Dude where are the next parts ?? I can't hold my curiosity anymore.

[@jmrider6078]

This was very enjoyable to watch and learn about

[@bassheadjazz2708]

Got some of that 2000s army nostalgia, awesome. It's a different army these days. It's cool to think this will be historical footage one day.

[@lauritorni4879]

You still alive man? We still waiting for more!

[@ramrants5626]

Thank you genuinely currently it's 3:21 am where I'm from and I saw something really sad and beautiful the Christmas videos of that guy eating a mre kinda made me sad whenever im away from home the food is what I miss most and especially on Christmas but that sunrise when you crossed the boreer was really beautiful I wouldn't know what that feeling was like but maybe I'm reading way to far into it

[@Lemonjamin]

Cool video. I hope you have more

[@JRa3bit]

We need the videos brother! These have been great to watch. My uncle was over there around this time and used to send us stuff he would get over there (candy and hooka pipes) lol This is very interesting.

[@thatperson420blyat]

I thought this was one of those random popular recommended videos.

[@sabinarussoniello8380]

i love these videos so much