January 02, 2011 | permalink
Two days before the statue of Saddam was toppled at Firdos Square, Army troops who had seized control of the Republican Palace were ordered by their commander, Col. David Perkins, to find a statue of Saddam that could be destroyed. Once one was found—Saddam on horseback—the troops were told to wait until an embedded crew from Fox TV arrived. Click here to read an account of this from Jason Conroy, who wrote about it in his memoir, “Heavy Metal: A Tank Company’s Battle to Baghdad.” An amateur video of that toppling has been posted on youtube.
On April 9, 2003, American Marines toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein at Firdos Square in Baghdad. Broadcast across the world, the event symbolized what was thought to be an American victory in Iraq. My reconstruction, written with support from ProPublica and the Shorenstein Center, was published in The New Yorker. This section contains documents, photos, videos and links related to the story.
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