New Baghdad Sculpture Holds Little Meaning (for Iraqis)

[Barrett808]

New Baghdad Sculpture Holds Little Meaning
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The turquoise color is faded, and nests of sparrows fill its holes.

The sculpture that replaced the statue of Saddam Hussein toppled three years ago is supposed to represent freedom. But many Iraqis say it has little meaning when fear, violence and uncertainty dominate their lives.

"It has no meaning because there is no freedom," said Mohammed Ahmed, who operates a currency exchange shop nearby.

...

"It does not stand for anything," Umm Wadhah, a 51-year-old housewife in black robes who lives nearby, said of the statue. "It does not symbolize the country, or unity, or anything. We want something that stands for us ... all of us."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_post_saddam_sculpture

[qanda]

1. "For me, all statues represent tyranny,"

I guess the Iraqis aren't fooled by their faux freedom statues.

[Journeyman]

22. why must itself up every of a park

by E. E. Cummings

anus stick some quote statue unquote to
prove that a hero equals any jerk
who was afraid to dare to answer "no"?

quote citizens unquote might otherwise
forget(to err is human;to forgive
divine)that if the quote state unquote says
"kill" killing is an act of christian love.

"Nothing" in 1944 AD
"can stand against the argument of mil
itary necessity"(generalissimo e)
and echo answers "there is no appeal
from reason"(freud)--you pays your money and
you doesn't take your choice. Ain't freedom grand

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. Despite what the one man said, I think it SHOULD be a statue of boosh*

(in his magic codpiece, of course).

I want to start a pool on how long it would last.

[Lisa]

5. even the sparrows would scorn nesting in his codpiece!

Although the pigeons might enjoy using him as a lavatory!

[jimshoes]

9. Didn't some PNAC neocon thug

predict the Iraqi's would be erecting statues of the chimp by now? Wolfowitz or Perle, maybe? I'm fairly sure statue #1 has yet to be erected.

[LynnTheDem]

17. "and a year from now I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand

square in baghdad that is named after president bush"

-bushCabal neocon Richard "I'm a MFing dick" Perle.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. It is as meaningful as the new "Democracy" tha BushCo has installed.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. An asignifying structure for our postmodern President

Terrific.

The sculpture has no meaning; it means nothing. It merely conveys a force, communicates a tremor.

If anything, it's quite shocking that the fucking thing hasn't been blown up yet. Of course, that would only be a symbolic gesture - it would gain meaning only in being destroyed...

[Terran1212]

6. Ungrateful Iraqis!

Can't they taste the FREEDOM?

[TexasLawyer]

7. Can't we give them this statue?

I'd like nude Britney to be as far away from me as possible. The Iraqis already hate us anyway!
:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

8. Here's the new one.

Article discussing statue published May 30 2003:
http://e-paper.timesonline.co.uk/demo/5/30/TM/18/articles/artikel_TM_4MM_20030530_18_401.html

[hedgehog]

10. You're kidding, right?

Please tell me this was photo-shopped.

[subterranean]

11. Believe it or not, it's real

It looks like something from The Onion, but it's in The Times of London. Click on the link to see! A masterpiece it ain't. And that picture was taken when it was new! Imagine what it must look like now!

[NYC]

20. It looks like graffiti on the pedestal.

That is not an attractive statue. I won't even try to figure out what it is supposed to represent.

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Judi Lynn]

15. It's horrid. Awful. An insult. They should have thought it through

well enough to realize there should be a basin nearby for unsuspecting people who see it for the first time and need a quick place to barf.

It's a real kick in the pants to Iraqis, you'd think. They may be nearly obliterated by _Bush bombs, machine guns, indescriminate slaughter of their countrymen and women and children, white phosphorous, no electricity, untreated water, but they deserve some trace of respect after all this hell!

[Sydnie]

12. what the hell is that supposed to be??

GAWD, no wonder they don't like it. Who would?

[daleo]

13. Yikes!

That's pretty awful. It looks like something from the Muppet show.

[0007]

14. I'm not to sure the Muppets would use it for anything!

[truthisfreedom]

19. WTF is it supposed to be?

[anotherdrew]

23. primitive, as ugly as possible n/t

[saigon68]

25. UGLY

[saigon68]

26. REMEMBER BREMER'S NEW FLAG ??????????????

Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has approved a new national flag for the embattled country, officials said.

The design consists of a pale blue crescent on a white background, with a yellow strip between two blue lines at the bottom.

IGC spokesman Hameed al-Kafaei said the flag heralded "a new era" as Iraq could not continue using its flag from the Saddam Hussein era

HAVEN'T SEEN THIS BEAUTY FOR A WHILE ???

[baby_mouse]

27. Surely this is a mistake?

Did they ship over a piece of set from a low-budget Sci-Fi channel spin-off series by mistake?

It doesn't look finsihed. And it doesn't look like it would be much good even if it WAS finished.

[LeftHander]

16. What...The W in FLight Suit bronze not impressive? nt

[goforit]

21. LOL!!!

[VegasWolf]

18. Looks like something from the depths of Bush's demented mind. They're

coming to take him away, ha ha, ho ho, he he! Bush needs to be put into a mental institution for the safety of the world.

[magellan]

24. That statue was created by Iraqi artists and deserves our respect.

It was unveiled in May 2003...when there was still hope that Bush** might have been serious about keeping his promises.

Enough said.

[jamesinca]

28. an artist picked by the bushies

paid for by the bushies and an approved item of the bushies. I doubt they let an Iraqi just do an unsupervised theme. It is very symbolic of the change that bush brought to Iraq. It is nice that an Iraqi got to do the piece, but lets not kid ourselves here, it was bought and paid for by bush with his approval of content.

[magellan]

30. What proof do you have of that?

I've been reading about Najeen all over the internet and I can find no reason, not a single one, to think you know anything of substance to support your claim. However, I have found plenty to shred it to pieces.

Please defend your accusation with something other than "it must be so". Provide a link to something that suggests this statue was "bought and paid for by bush".

[Sapere aude]

29. How about a statue of Bush. Then they all can throw stones at it.

[saigon68]

32. No, --- they would protect the Simian likeness at all costs

[eridani]

31. Reminds me of that joke about the Adam and Eve statue in Central Park

God was bored, and brought the statue to life one day, and told them they'd have an hour to do whatever they wanted to do. They disappeared into the bushes, from which emerged sounds of giggling and moaning.

After about 30 minutes they came back out, and God informed them that they had another 30 minutes left.

Eve: You wanna do that again?
Adam: You betcha!
Eve: OK, this time you hold the pigeons down, and I'll piss on them!

[Supersedeas]

33. the Bushist culture of superficiality has not sunk in yet