Well this morning began with every television station in my area with cameras affixed, for approximately two hours, upon a gathering crowd of Iraqi citizens attempting to topple a large statue of Saddam in some park in Baghdad. I watched patiently as three Iraqis climbed upon a pedestal and managed to wrap a rope around the neck of the statue. I watched as they tied a knot into the rope. I watched as they then used the rope to lower themselves to the ground. Of course, the rope was too short to do what was intended. Not even one person could reach it. They would have had to have the power of a score or so to apply sufficient effort to topple the statue. Seeing that they were unable to pull the statue down, they then began to beat on the pedestal with a sledge hammer. Such efforts did actually knock a big dent in the pedestal but such was still not bringing the statue down. Finally, someone in the crowd enlisted the assistance of the US military. The Marines brought in a tank with a large tow apparatus, hooked a large cable around the statue and pulled it down. Hurrah!
Of course, what a wasted opportunity for the US military to show the world at close hand what they have advertised since the start of the war. They had regularly advised the world that they had munitions capable of destroying any target, anywhere, without damaging neighboring structures or civilians. Did the US military not have a single GPS guided, large statue destroying missile somewhere in its arsenal? What a show it would have been to the world to have had the US Marines tell the crowd to step back, we can take care of this, then radio the coordinates into a radio, and watch as a missile came floating down the avenue, smacked into that statue totally eradicating it. Would that not have been a most satisfactory display of American military superiority to provide to the observing Iraqis and the world, aptly watching on every TV station? As it was, watching the statue bend at the knees and only partially tumble to the ground was very anti-climatic.
Posted by Tiger at April 9, 2003 06:57 PM