Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

News from Better Homes and gardens the London Sunday Times:

It has emerged that the former Iraqi dictator, who is about to go on trial, had two sumptuous homes in southern France. Instead of retreating into the rat hole in Iraq where American soldiers caught him, he may have been planning to retire in comfort to the Riviera like other discredited despots.

Saddam never visited either property but one, a white-walled, 12-bedroomed villa on a hill overlooking Cannes, was occasionally used for parties by Uday, his son, according to an Iraqi embassy spokesman in Paris. He said the government in Baghdad would keep the house, valued at ?8.5m, as a ?splendid investment?.
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France?s strict privacy laws combined with the C?d?Azur?s comfortable climate have made it the bolthole of choice for dictators in retirement. Residents have included Mobutu Sese Seko, the Zairean dictator, and Jean-Claude ?Baby Doc? Duvalier of Haiti.
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The dictator?s interest in the property probably dates from a visit he made to Provence in 1975, with President Jacques Chirac, then French prime minister. Saddam reciprocated by offering Chirac a banquet of barbecued Iraqi carp.

The visit resulted in a bonanza for French business, including a deal worth ?3 billion to supply Iraq with a nuclear reactor. It ended up being destroyed in a bombing raid by the Israelis in 1986.

(Via Mrs G's Dawn Patrol)

Update: Heh.