Bad End of the Glorious Story

As Saudi newspaper Ash Shark al-ausat reported on Thursday, there are 2,350 monuments and statues to Saddam Hussein on the territory of Iraq now.

There was a special board for monumental propaganda in the government of Iraq; it dealt with production and mounting of statues to the leader. The board was in charge of a special workshop on the outskirts of Baghdad where 80 sculptors and workers worked. What is more, there were special police departments guarding monuments to the president.

The newspaper says that the security measures were taken not in vain. When a teenager cut an ear of a Saddam statue, his both ears were cut as punishment. Several tens of people from local tribes were arrested and repressed in an Iraqi province after some strangers threw tomatoes at a monuments to the leader. There were no monuments to Saddam in northern Iraqi provinces as Kurds destroyed them after the rebellion in April 1991.

The Saddam Statue dismantled by Iraqis and US troops in the Al-Fardus square in the center of Baghdad was 14 meters high. The statue was cast of bronze in Italy last year. Shipment of the statue by sea and insurance cost the Iraqi treasury 250,000 dollars.

Production of statues in Iraq was well regulated. The production cycle of the above mentioned workshop allowed to make 9 statues at the same time. Preparation for the 66th anniversary of the president (April 28) was underway before the war in Iraq.

Depicting of the president's image was the top priority business of Iraqi sculptors and artists. At that, they got lots of orders to paint portraits of Saddam and make sculptures which were further placed in offices of governmental officials, schools, hospitals and all public institutions.

Gala.net