It was built in the 1980s for the Iraqi military, in desert around 100 miles west of Baghdad.
But after the US invasion in 2003, it became one of the biggest bases for American troops - and was quickly transformed.
"It's right in the middle of the desert, and surrounded on all sides by scrublands and desert and rocks," Oliver Poole reported for the BBC in 2006.
"As you emerge into the American section, you come across much better roads... in many ways they've tried to recreate the set-up of a modern US suburban town."
The facilities were so impressive, some US troops even called it "Camp Cupcake".
