The Statue

Unfortunately, yet another "urban legend"...

The photo at right has been widely distributed by email; I've received several copies of it from various people. The accompanying text makes a compelling and moving story, calculated to get you all riled up about the mainstream media:

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, Texas.

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 Saddamand made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiersand 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 effectthat a flashed breast or controversy of politics does.

Trouble is, it's just not true. At least, it's not true in some of the important details. Here's a couple of excerpts from the Snopes article, but do read the whole thing:

Origins: The sculture pictured above is real, and it was indeed crafted by an Iraqi sculptor from bronze recovered by melting down statues of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but the explanatory text accompanying the photo is quite misleading: The Iraqi sculptor was not "forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam," he did not produce the memorial shown because he was "so grateful that the Americans liberated his country," and the monument was not his idea. Members of the U.S. Army paid the sculptor, who had previously worked on a few other Saddam statues, to create the work pictured according to a design of their choosing.

The officers didn't question Mr. Alussy further about his political views. Had they pressed him, they might have learned that he's harshly critical of the U.S. and bitter over an American rocket attack during the war that killed his uncle. In an interview, he says he thinks the war was fought for oil and holds the U.S. responsible for the violence and unemployment that have plagued Iraq since.

I wish I understood why people feel compelled to twist reality in this fashion. There are more than enough real reasons to be contemptuous of the mainstream media; there's no need to make them up...