Technology Update: Photographs

Babak Dehghanpisheh visited a Gaddafi family home this morning and discovered a secret palace hidden behind an ordinary façade. Read about the garden labyrinth, 40-foot deep bunker, hot tub, waterfall, Playboy magazine collection, yachting brochures and an empty box of Coronas.

Rebel fighters and civillians walk near the swimming pool inside the house of Aisha Gaddafi, Gaddafi's daughter.

The neighbors always knew they would be surprised by what’s inside the house on Dhel, or shadow, street. But when they got the first glimpse of Muammar Gaddafi’s house in southeast Tripoli last Sunday, they were in complete shock. “It’s amazing. We didn’t believe [it],” says Hassan Salem, a 46-year-old engineer who lives in the neighborhood. “We thought we are in a dream.”.

A rebel fighter poses for a photo as he sits on a couch framed by a golden mermaid with the face of Aisha Gaddafi, Gaddafi's daughter, in her Tripoli house.

There have been many rumors about the Saharan madman’s palaces and underground bunkers over the years, testaments to a dictator’s ego and paranoia that in some cases seemed to outdo his peers, like Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Well, as it turns, the rumors are true. “There are a lot of hidden things inside,” says Bahauldin Babai, 28, a doctor who also lives in the neighborhood and now helps guard the house from looters. In order to prevent further damage and looting to the compound, rebel military leaders have sealed the doors. The only way in or out is with a ladder, which some neighbors are happy to supply

A rebel fighter seen at the parking lot near the house of Al-Saadi Gaddafi, Gaddafi's son.

The house was built by Gaddafi in the 80s and later given to his son Mutassim. It looks inconspicuous enough on the outside with an ordinary gate and dun-colored walls, which blend with the surrounding houses. On the other side of the gate, it’s a step through the looking glass: an inner ring of 30-foot high walls surround a huge, beautifully manicured garden with trimmed hedges, small ponds, and pink bougainvilleas. The earthy smell of fresh grass fills the air in late afternoon

Libyan rebels take souvenir pictures on Wednesday, August 24 under the tent where Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi used to receive foreign dignitaries and officials at his Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli.

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Pictures of gaddafi's bunglow

Libyan rebels stand next to the entrance of a tunnel at the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli on Thursday, August 25.

Rebel fighters enter a bunker in the Gaddafi's main compound on Thursday.

Telephones inside a bunker of Gaddafi's main compound in Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli.

Rebel fighters try clothes in the house of Aisha Gaddafi.

A damaged electric golf cart is jammed against the wall of a tunnel in the bunker of Gaddafi's compound

MUAMMAR GADDAFI with his female body guard

Sometime after midnight last night I Tweeted this: "Can't wait to see White House photographer Pete Souza's behind-the-scenes photos of the past few days' events." Souza has delivered. For the past several years, the White House chief photographer has been chronicling every moment of the Obama Administration. He has unprecedented access to the President and his staff and gets himself into meetings and rooms you'd think he wouldn't ever be allowed. Case in point: Souza was in the Situation Room with President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other senior officials while the mission in Pakistan to take out Osama bin Laden was taking place yesterday. The photo above is truly remarkable — check out the no-BS look on the President's face and Secretary Clinton's expression of near shock at what she's watching. Absolutely awesome. We can only guess that they're watching the mission unfold via a camera mounted on one of the Navy SEAL's helmets. Check out more cool photos from yesterday's events in the White House after the jump.

By the way, one more thing about Souza's photos. He posts a selection of them every day on theWhite House Flickr feed, and perhaps even cooler, every single photo that he and his staff takes are protected pieces of the National Archives. Which means that he's not allowed to delete any photos and the entire collection will be made available to the public following the completion of Obama's presidency. That's pretty amazing.