It has been liberated.
I have just watched live on TV via SkyNews as US soldiers used an armoured recovery vehicle to pull down the huge statue of Saddam Hussain in the very heart of Baghdad, surrounded by a crowd of Iraqis quite literally leaping about with joy
Thousands of jubilant Iraqis danced in the square and when the statue fell, they rushed forward, ignoring desperate attempts by the US soldiers to keep them back for fear the still unstable structure would crush them… but this was a moment they would not be denied and they quite literally danced on the huge fallen monument to one man’s insane monomania.
The cost in blood and misery must never been forgotten and there will be hardships, disappointments and trying times ahead but now is the time to celebrate what has been achieved. These moments do not come often in life, so savour them whilst they last. Enjoy.
Update: The people at SkyNews’ website are fast! They already have an article up only minutes after I watched it live on television (the article took them 12 minutes to put up (almost as fast as me!)… Way to go, guys!).
Alas, I can only get NBC TV news where I am! I won’t harsh anyone else’s buzz by describing their coverage in detail, but suffice it to say Katie Couric has just asked a Middle East ‘expert’ on Iraq — seriously — “Is this a lost cause?”
wonderful stuff. overheard a colleague snarling “Of course I want to see the back of Saddam but this is all going to make Bush’s head swell.”
Well, maybe, maybe not. I guess the Iraqi people can live with that.
Hear, hear! Well said that man.
I only wish the TV folks agreed.
Watching the ITV news channel I’ve just heard the generic “Sally jockstrap” anchorwoman mewling about “horrendous civilian casualties”.
Between 1 and 2,000 dead after such a campaign is little short of miraculous. Compare that with the Dresden raid in WWII which killed circa 50,000 people in one night.
The deaths are tragic, but tiny in relation to the deaths caused by Sadders.
Much of Baghdad and Iraq are still to be liberated, but those images of Sadders’ statue coming down will be worth any number of A-10’s or Abrams in the coming days.
I was watching NBC as the statue fell. Best moment? Befere the stature was roped., two Iraqis were displaying a banner that read “Go home Human Shields you U.S. wankers”. Excellent!
Just seen an interview with a spokesman from Christian Aid, when “Sally” asked him how delighted he was to see the fall of Sadders he could hardly contain his indifference.
The NGO’s have held back because they say they don’t want to “compromise their neutrality” or “appear to endorse the invasion”. Very noble. So why is it that whenever they’re asked about their relationships with various tyrannical basket case regimes they say that it’s more important to get the aid in than strike political poses. Hmmm…
I like the scene where some Iraqis are pulling Saddam’s head thru the street and they’re riding his face!
And again it started w/a man and a sledgehammer.
[humour]
Of course Baghdad hasn’t fallen, you see it’s Saddams most brilliant plan yet, he’s got everybody right where he wants them. He’s got the Americans very conveniently placed for destruction, he’s uncovered the people who disagreed with his regime….Any moment now Saddam will come up with his next masterstoke, and WHAM! Instant Victory and anihaliation of the coalition forces. Unfortunatly there will be millions of civilian casualities, but as they say you can’t make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. Every child that is left alive will of course turn into another Bin-Laden.
He’s already won you see, apart from a few technicalities.
[/humour]
I noticed that “Go Home Human Shields You US Wankers” banner. I liked the way the CNN guy stuttered over it, “…and there is a banner reading Go Home Human Shi… errr We’re live in Baghdad Central Square”.
Wonder if we’ll be seeing this in The Guardian, or the story about dozens of CHILDREN being freed from Saddam’s prison in to the arms of their parents.
As the American flag, then the Iraqi flags were stuffed on the face of the statue, prior to it coming down,
… I thought the proper garment on the head would’ve been rather large undies.
My sister suggests the trail down the street would’ve added a nice brown line.
Sorry, I was taken away for a moment.
Seeing Saddam’ feet left on the pillar after the statue was pulled down I was struck by the appropriateness of Shelley’s poem. I’m not quite sure if I scan it correctly:
OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said, “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand
In the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
That yet remain. (Stamped on these lifeless things:
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.)
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings.
Look upon 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.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley