Al-Rashid Hotel
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The Al-Rashid Hotel is an 18-story hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, favored by journalists and media personnel. It is named for Harun Al-Rashid.
The hotel was built in 1983 by the Oberoi Group, an Indian company, on the west bank of the Tigris River. It gained fame during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when CNN conducted their newscasts from the hotel. Between the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the building was the main housing facility for Western businessmen and diplomats, as well as foreign press.
After the invasion, the hotel was converted into a base for the Coalition and the American military. It once again gained fame on October 26, 2003 when rockets struck the hotel while U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying there. He was unhurt, but an American colonel was killed and 17 others injured.
A tile mosaic depicting U.S. President George H.W. Bush with a look of astonishment on his face was installed on the floor of the lobby after the Persian Gulf War. This was intended to force any visitors to walk over his face to enter the hotel (a serious insult in Arab culture). The mosaic was smashed by U.S. soldiers after the invasion, who replaced it with one of Saddam Hussein [1].
