Four Years Ago Today, Saddam Statue Was Pulled Down...

[Hissyspit]

On April 9, 2003, US tanks rolled into Baghdad’s central square and a bronze statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by Marines, albeit with some difficulty...

http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/node20676/userobject1ai2749649.html

4 years after Saddam statue fall, Iraq still in chaos
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9/4/2007 9:42

Four years after a statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad's Firdous Square, Iraqis are still living in chaos where they have to bear daily bombings and sectarian violence as well as decapitated or tortured bodies.

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On April 9, 2003, the U.S. forces broke into central Baghdad and pulled down a large statue of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in Firdous Square who was executed last December, raising hopes for many Iraqis that it would bring a bright future for them.

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Abu Samir, a 50-year-old teacher in Baghdad, said he was happy when Saddam's statue was toppled but now he was filled with nothing but regret. "At that moment, I saw the statue as a symbol of dictatorship and tyranny. Now I want to say the Americans and those who came with them are much worse than Saddam," Samir said.

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Instead of the statue, a monument symbolizing freedom was set up. But Dafir said most of Baghdad residents know nothing about its meaning except for some American soldiers who come to take pictures... On Sunday, thousands of Iraqis swarmed to the holy city of Najaf for a big demonstration against the U.S. presence in Iraq on Monday that was called by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

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[JohnnyRingo]

1. Turning Point!

I'm holding out for the turning point on 1/20/09.

Hopefully the Congress will coerce Buxh to begin a draw-down before then.
I'm convinced that Buxh is trying to avoid this so he can tell historians that "we were winning when I was in office".

If he starts a withdrawal before he leaves office, the war will forever be labeled his from start to finish. The next pres will just mop up what's left over.
The only lesson Buxh learned from Vietnam was if it can be handed off, the next Milhouse goes down in the history books as "losing the war".

Of course 'Nam was lost in 1968, and Iraq was lost in 2003.

[izzie]

2. That was a show and I got that from TV

They said it as it came down that it was staged. One of the news men said it would be used a a milestone. It has.

[bdamomma]

3. and it hasn't made any progress, just 3,267 lives gone for lies.

[tibbiit]

4. As ive posted before

That was the day we turned off cable news channels forever.
After watching the downing of the statue with the apparent throngs of people pulling down the statue, we happened to catch the bbc version on the internet... twenty people, in an empty square.

that was the moment we turned off the cable news channels except for daily show and later colbert.
Turn that shit off, you will never miss it.
(I say that as a former watcher of cable news channels all day long)
tib

[lectrobyte]

5. I'm with you. I could basically care less about Imus, Olberman, Mathews, Russert etc.

and yet they always seem to have a bunch of threads about their antics here.

[spanone]

6. A staged moment for an illegal war....all based on lies....