The Fall of Saddam Statue at Fardus Square, Baghdad - Stage Managed by the US?
M iraqwar.ru/iraq11 April 2003
The The Crowd at the Fall of the Saddam Statue -Its Pentagon's Photo-0p
Most of you have already seen the jubilant crowd of Baghdad's residents taking down the bronze statue of Saddam Hussein in the downtown Baghdad. In reality this "monumental event" turned out be just as illusory as coalition's proclaimed control of the Iraqi capitol.
Every television news network in the world concentrated on the Fardus Square in Baghdad. Located across the Palestine hotel – home to dozens of foreign journalists reporting from Baghdad – until recently the Fardus Square was dominated by a huge bronze statue of Saddam Hussein.
Surrounded by what appeared to be a sizable crowd of Iraqis a US tank recovery vehicle was pulling on the cable tied around the statue until it came down to the delight of the cheering crowd. Television networks showed jubilant Iraqis jumping on the US tank recovery vehicle apparently to thank its driver for taking down the statue. Later we observed a group of Iraqis pulling the statue’s head down the street.
It was difficult not to wonder why the US soldier driving the tracked vehicle that took down the statue appeared to be so relaxed surrounded by a mob of Iraqis. Elsewhere in Iraq US soldiers frequently open fire on civilians approaching checkpoints. But here in Baghdad, where thousands of Iraqi troops are still battling the US forces, a US armored vehicle with a single unarmed soldier in it was surrounded by a crowd of cheering Iraqis and the soldier did not appear to be particularly concerned.
In the end the big picture (literally) revealed the true events that took place on the Fardus Square: the square was surrounded by the US tanks and the “jubilant crowd” turned out to be two dozen of Iraqis, some of which were recognized as Iraqi opposition members delivered to Iraq by Pentagon just days earlier.
Several strategically placed cameras created an impression of a large crowd. Iraqis cheering US troops in Baghdad - just another “Potemkin village” staged by the Pentagon PR teams. Meanwhile the “official” US casualties in Iraq have reached 105 killed, 399 wounded and 18 missing. The war is over. Maybe not…
EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT of the fall of Saddam's statue10.04.2003 [20:13] :"by HsiaoHui - iraqwar.ru/iraq
I watched live web video cam of the incident. Apparently, the videocam was located on the balcony of a nearby hotel overlooking the US military vehicles and the Saddam statue nearby.
What happened was that several military vehicles, including Abrams Tanks & Humvees drove by and stopped outside the hotel. US soldiers came down from their vehicles and walked about the place but on vigil. The images via the webcam were very clear. Then, on the left, a group of (about 15) rowdy youngsters, some removing their shirts as they walked and swinging them round and round and cheering. They walked in a rather organised fashion, as if they had an objective in mind.
The soldiers nearby the hotel didn't stop them and also didn't seem to bother. Why didn't the soldiers stop them and check to see if any of them carried arms or bombs strapped to their bodies? The group then proceeded in an almost coordinated way to the landmark where the statue was located.
The videocam then trained and zoomed onto the group who started hammering and pulling at something that looked like a lamp protruding from the stand on which the statue stood. Then they climbed on top of each other and threw a rope around it. 10 or 15 minutes later, a US tank drove close to the statue. As the rope was too weak they used a chain instead. The chain was later hooked to the tank and the statue pulled down as the tank reversed.
All this was done with embedded reporters at the scene filming.
All I can say is that this whole thing was staged. This whole event was viewed all over the world as the webcam was LIVE.
