I did not verify the facts about this statue before posting about it . According to Snopes ( www.snopes.com ) , Kalat did make the statue , but not out of gratitude , but was commissioned by the US Army to craft it . Some of the other facts are correct . I feel the point is still valid that the media neglects good stories about the war due to their opposition to it , and thus skew the perception of readers and listeners toward opposition to the war .
This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace,
now home to the 4th Infantry division.
It will eventually be shipped home
and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, TX
The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat,
who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.
Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country;
he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam
and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers
and their fallen warriors.
Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.
To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.
Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news?
Because it is heart warming and praise worthy.
The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect.
But we can do something about it.
We can show it to everyone we know and talk about it .
4 comments:
Neol,
It would be interesting to know at what stage Kalat made this structure. Did he make it immediately after the fall of Saddam or is it recent? For all the reports that I read, the Iraqi's now believe that they had it better when Saddam was in power.
Interesting veiwing:
http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/03/23/picture-of-the-day/
From an Australian point of view, it seems to me that the Middle East was a safer place when Saddam was in power. There were No car bombs, No persons blowing themselves up, No Syrians or Irans running across the border to join a civil war, The Sunnis and Shites were not killing each other,Turkey did not have a problem with the Kurdish uprise in the North of Iraq. The list goes on!
Often one is better with the devil they know than the devil they don't. Bush and Cheney are making money selling their wares through Halburton and the Carlyle Group, while the Iraqi citizens have to suffer or die. Why should over 3000 American soldiers have to die, so that big conglomerates can make money?
The situation is very sad. It may be that Kalat was once Saddam's whipping boy and now he is Cheney's whipping boy. Who knows?
Of course your perspective is true in some ways , but quite skewed by what the media tells us , rather than what might be really happening . That is the point of this post , that the media doesn't tell us about the good things that happen as often as they tell us about the bad .
Proof that Bush and Cheney are profiting from the war would be hard to find , since from my point of view , they have no connection to Halliburton nor the Carlyle group that would profit them . Why do so many of those opposed to the war on terror deny that Democracy IS taking root in Iraq ?
OK , I am sad to say that I was mislead , and nrglected to check Snopes.com before posting about this statue . It was done by Kalat , but some of the decription is false . He was commissioned by The US Army to make it , not out of gratitude for liberation .
Ardent, agree on all points. All.
Noel, thanks for sharing the story, even if modified a bit. The raw materials used is what drew my attention, not the commissionaer of the work.
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