Wednesday, August 01, 2007
In Saddam's image
As we drove past convoys of Humvees returning from their patrols on the deadly streets, past soldiers sheltering from the scolding heat, we arrived at one of Saddam's palaces and found these extraordinary statues. Apparently there were once four of them adorning each corner of the huge sandstone building. Now only two survive, and dominate a yard where U.S. troops prepare vehicles for deployment. They stand like modern day Easter Island statues, gazing emotionlessly out at the American troops, a reminder of the total cult of personality that existed before the invasion and subsequent chaos. Saddam's gaze still casts across this baked land, but his image is quietly rusting away, while American engineers try to decide what on earth they should do with this enormous hunks of metal. -- From Dan Rivers, CNN International Correspondent 15 Comments
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Shelley said it best: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Dan:
When I saw photograph with two enormous statues of Saddam, the word that came into mind was narcissism. Obviously he thought he was godlike. Keep safe.
The press needs to maintain a strong presence in military conflict zones, lest we forget the misery and horror that goes hand in hand with war. We hope that their depictions of this war will give us incentive to avoid the next one.
Surely we could use the excess metal as armor for the humvees waiting in the staging area. I'm actually not sure if that problem has been addressed yet, but either way I think the statues should be dismantled. Either that, or tie a very large rope around the neck of the statues to make them more "life like."
Like him or not Saddam was the only person capable of controlling those people.
We knew this back in the late 80's when we chose not to go after him the first time. This mess will take decades to fix. If we pull out now it will be exactly the same as when we abandoned the Afghans. I feel for our childrens children.
Its facinating to see that Saddam being the Evil person as the US president says so, watches over the Americans even after his death.
Mohammed Kenya
American President doesn’t need statues; He just needs Fox News and Evangelicals for his dictatorship.
There were originally 9 of those statues and they were mounted on the palace roof as if overlooking the city of Baghdad. Note the eagle insignias have been removed from the shoulders of each as if in disgrace. Also when I was there the statues were laying on the ground with face turned toward the ground, as if kissing it. You will find some of the others by the BIAP and some have been destroyed and made into different statues.
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