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| Iraq |
| Saddam statue comes a-tumblin’ down |
| 2003-04-04 |
| At one end of the city, the Tomb of Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, occupies a place of honor that has been revered by Shiite Muslims for centuries. And dominating the four-lane boulevard approaching the holy site is a monument loathed by the Shiites for a decade: a gigantic bronze statue of Saddam Hussein on a horse, seeming to dare posterity to set its gaze on his grandeur. Everything Saddam did seems like something a mobster would do — tasteless, tacky, gauche. In a couple of hours today, a handful of American soldiers proved it was possible to topple Mr. Hussein. Officially, the demolition was carried out at the behest of an Iraqi Army colonel leading several dozen Iraqi soldiers who styled themselves the Coalition of Iraqi National Unity. The actual razing of the statue, however, was a production of United States Army engineers. Bring him down, boys! "Six Bangalore torpedoes," Sgt. Kris Catts, 23, said, reciting the explosive recipe he used. "Eight blocks of C-4. One M-12 — that's shock tube, it'll detonate when you push the button. One M-11, another shock tube. One M-14, a timer fuse, set for five minutes. Two M-81 fuse igniters, in case the shock tube doesn't blow. Fifty feet of detonation cord." That's quite a cake he's baking. Sergeant Catts made a ladder out of rope and pulled himself 20 feet up the marble pedestal on which the statue stood, guided from the ground by Sgt. Shawn Love. The explosives were passed up by rope to Sergeant Catts by Sergeant Love and Cpl. Francisco Santiago. "This statue will come down," said Sergeant Love. That prospect drew crowds. The Hussein monument is in one of the few verdant patches in this city of 400,000, where other than the golden domes of the mosques, the poured concrete architecture stretches into grindingly dusty vistas, interrupted only by broken glass, or crumbled buildings. There is little public art other than elaborate portraits of Mr. Hussein, which appear on government buildings, sometimes with him depicted I'd be ululating if I were there. The horse and its rider were sent hurtling off the pedestal, crashing to the base. Then the Iraqi colonel and his men began speaking over a loudspeaker, proclaiming an uprising against Mr. Hussein's government. When they were finished, residents snapped pictures of friends on top of the pile of ruins of the statue, or posed with the soldiers. Then came questions for the nearest available Americans. "When Saddam Hussein goes?" Ali Salah asked. "Not in Najaf. Saddam in Baghdad." Either there or in Tikrit. We'll find him, Ali. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Gotta get one of these Saddam statues, put a mumu on it, and put it out in the cornfield where it will do some good. |
| Posted by: Dar Steckelberg 2003-04-04 13:11:26 |
| #1 does anyone have before / during / after pictures ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-04 11:15:30 |