The Story Behind Saddam Hussein’s Fallen Statue

By Robert Krulwich, Justine Schiro, and Charlie Marcus
ABC News, “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” April 9, 2003

Excerpt

Robert Krulwich: It all began here in downtown Baghdad. A small crowd is gathered near a thirty-foot-high Saddam Hussein. And two men who just happen to have a twelve-foot ladder with them, the first one hoisted himself up onto the pedestal, followed by another guy in blue—who just makes it—and then a third man just happens to have—look to the right there—what looks like a long, two-inch-thick rope. Next, with the aid of their ladder, the guys throw the rope up over Saddam’s right shoulder, then over Saddam’s left shoulder, and then they cinch it together into a kind of loose noose, while all around the circle, from a distance, Marines are calmly watching as an extremely large man arrives with a sledgehammer and begins pounding the pedestal. Then there’s a tug-of-war over who gets to pound next. Had the statue fallen at this moment, it would have looked like the Iraqis liberating themselves, but then a US tank retrieval vehicle shows up—these are designed to pull heavy equipment out of sand or mud—so up goes the crane. A U.S. Marine scrambles up—he’s followed, you notice here, by an Iraqi—the Marine turns and motions, “No, no, go down,” and waves him away. Seconds later, that soldier is handed an American flag which, in a light wind, stays on Saddam’s face. Had the statue fallen at this moment, the world would have seen an image of American conquest. But after a minute and 32 seconds, you can see the soldier look down—“Stop,” he seems to be told, “Take it down.” “Down?” And he removes it. And he instead gives Saddam an Iraqi flag as a scarf for a couple of minutes. But when it is finally time for the statute to come down, there are no flags.

Printed with permission of ABC News.