The Null Device blog: Boundaries Never Last

You've seen the historical images of the newly-liberated people of Iraq toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad? Well, claims have emerged that the whole thing was staged. Apparently the square was sealed off by US Marines, with the newly-liberated Iraqi people kept well away from the scene. The statue was pulled down by a US military vehicle. The celebrating Iraqis seen in the square were members of the militia of Ahmed Chalabi, Washington's favourite for Leader of Free Iraq. The whole thing was staged for the benefit of the media as a propaganda exercise. Mind you, people have said similar things about the moon landing. (via NWD)

There are 3 comments on "Boundaries Never Last":

Posted by: mitch
http://
Fri Apr 11 06:45:05 2003

http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=55651&group=webcast

Posted by: p'c'n
http://
Fri Apr 11 09:32:24 2003

*rolls eyes* conspiracy theories at every turn...

did it occur to them that the reason the square _might_ have been cleared was so that the statue could have been toppled safely?

the iraqis thumping the statues with their shoes looked fairly vehement - after 25 years of being ruled by a despot I doubt they would have needed much encouragement...

Posted by: acb
http://dev.null.org
Fri Apr 11 11:07:49 2003

Though the media represented this as a spontaneous act of the people of Baghdad. If the allegations are true (and I've yet to see them debunked), those involved were either US military personnel or US-trained militia fighters flown in for the occasion, which is quite a different story. Do the words "astroturf campaign" mean anything to you?

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