Article

2007-02-21 Iraq

Saddam's Swords of "Victory" Surrender to Wrecking Ball

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2007-02-21 12:50|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Shoulda blown that shit down the first day we hit Baghdad. Two HE tank rounds, boom, done.

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-02-21 15:54|| 2007-02-21 15:54|| Front Page Top

#2 This is not a Saddam statue it is a stature of Iraq comemorating the Iraqi struggle War against Iran. This is a Iraqi Nation symbol.

Tearing this down will do nothing but cause uneeded division and tension and further rip Iraq apart at a time when it would be to our advantage to promote unity. The sectarian drift will strengthen the strongest sectarians namely the Radical Islamist both Shia or Sunni stripe.

Posted by C-Low 2007-02-21 16:36|| 2007-02-21 16:36|| Front Page Top

#3 let the photographic history tell the story, but ensure all the chapters are there, including the shredder. is anybody crying that hitler's statues, and other symbology has been taken down? (didn't think so)

Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-02-21 17:38|| 2007-02-21 17:38|| Front Page Top

#4 Mojo's right - this should have been done right away as a purposeful act of humiliation. If Iraq and the middle east at large have any chance of growing up and joining the modern world, the sword has to be put down once and for all...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2007-02-21 17:40|| 2007-02-21 17:40|| Front Page Top

#5 Glad I got all my photos there before this - I'm kinda surprised. The Iraq Memory Foundation's a good outfit, and they had a good design for a museum at the site. That can still go ahead without the arms/swords, I guess, but they're right that at least one pair would have been an appropriate item at the site.

I understand C-Low's point about it being a national monument, but I think that it was a bit tainted by the Saddam details and associations. The tomb of the unknowns lies off the entrance to the Swords parade grounds - that's definitely a national symbol, and it's been spiffed up a bit (and was lit up during last year's Iraqi army day). That won't be touched.

But the best monument by far (it really is an impressive, symbolically powerful, clean design) is the Martyr's Monument, which lies outside the IZ. Don't know its status at the moment. I'd say it's far more than an adequate substitute for the Swords as a commemoration of the Iran-Iraq war dead.

Posted by Verlaine 2007-02-21 21:25|| 2007-02-21 21:25|| Front Page Top

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