Statue Toppling...
 

As most of us have probably seen, the huge Saddam in Fardus Square has been toppled by a mob with a little help from their US Marine friends in an armoured engineer vehicle. Surprisingly given the chaos, no-one seems to have got under it! As a small PPRuNe tactics exercise, how would you go about removing a giant dictator statue? Marks for: Spectacular effect, Economy of Effort, Originality, and of course artistic expression.

The crowd started out by climbing it, then put a rope about its neck. Someone fetched a sledgehammer, and a huge man (I mean huge, this one hadn't been going short of scoff) began whacking the plinth. Then some utter arssestarted pulling on the rope - as if trying to drop it on his own head. Then Mr. Combat Engineer arrived. Main problem was getting the crowd out of the way, and getting the towrope high enough on his neck to get the necessary leverage. Once on the floor the mob went wild, I haven't seen anything like it since I was in the Bradford race riot...

(edit to correct square)

Tell the French that its a statue of a Greenpeace activist.

They'll soon send someone round to blow it up.

cur

The guy whacking at the base with a sledge hammer was a monster, however from my vantage point it looked like all he was doing was shattering the finish coat of cement. I thouht I saw a lot of rebar in that base. If not for the Marines, that thing would still be standing

Send the UN Security Council/ Anti-War crowd round there; they'll argue/talk it down; you'll see; It will only take 20 years!!

Saw the big bloke (looked like a refugee from the local 'club bouncers' society) whacking the plinth. Don't know if you noticed but loads of people borrowed the hammer for a go.

Did feel a bit sorry for the bloke on the other side of the ladder helping someone up who got a faceful of cement chips (suddenly clutched his eye and bent over).

Not really funny I know with everything else going on but it's those little moments everyone remembers.

Must pop up to Camden Market in a few weeks to buy some authentic 'Saddam statue' concrete fragments! The big fella would have been tw@tting that plinth for a fortnight if the engineers hadn't stepped in.

Just a shame one of the guys screwed up by putting the Stars & Stripes over Saddam's head - lots of bad coverage in the region for a minute's over enthusiasm. Very interesting reaction from the CENTCOM press guys - they were obviously watching the same images as me while I was on the phone to one of them, and there was a great roar of "No!" from the entire room when they showed the flag going up! Remember you're a liberator, son!

Following the mighty lead of phoney Tony (quote on BBC this evening), I think we should destroy Saddam's statues with "the scales of fear falling from the eyes of the Iraqi people". What the hell kind of metaphor is that, mate?!

Saw a great banner today being held up by some jubilant Iraqis with a message to all the western peace activists which have been in Baghdad in recent weeks, obviously judged by many folk to be supporters of Saddam.

"Go home the umansheilds, you U.S. w*nk*rs!!"

Priceless! Did anyone else see it?

Yep saw that. The last bit was not there initially. It was added, only speculation here, after consultation with some of the marines. Have to say it made me grin.;)

Killing statues
 

I would use large quantities of thermite.

Not only would Saddam go up in puff of smoke, he would also go out in a blaze of glory.

To repeat what I said on another thread, I believe that one marine who draped the US flag over SH's face did more damage to the US post war peace effort than the USAF did to Baghdad.

The Arab media will replay that scene over and over again to prove what every Arab already 'knows' of US intentions.

Apparently a lot of Arab TV channels did not show those scenes, the idea that fellow arabs could embrace or cheer Americans caused them acute discomfort.

I understand that it was a symbolic gesture to rub Saddam's face in the actual flag which was flying over the Pentagon on 11 September.

Which was considerably less rude than something a chap in robes was seen to rub in the face of one of Uncle S's portraits on ITV!

I wonder if the Marines are available to do a similar thing to our the Angel of the North. ;)

I liked the BBC's on-the-spot interview with a US marine:

BBC hack: So what's happening?

Marine: F*ck. That f*cking motherf*cking f*ck is f*cking...

BBC hack: um...

<quick cut back to studio>

BBC anchor: um... sorry about that

We were told that all the Iraqi's were armed with guns etc. Did you see the chap on the news yesterday holding up a picture of Saddam, he did not shoot it nor did he attack it with a knife, he hit it with - A SLIPPER. come on in Dubya, we have found the weapons of mass destruction - a slipper ( could almost be a sketch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail!)

Apparently hitting someone with a slipper or your shoe is a grave insult in Iraq, same here, but we use the nut. ;)

Tony

Thats it then. It should have been in the budget. Take away the SA80 and the Challenger and arm our troops with 'a Slipper'. That'll show them.

I would use some of Saddam's WMD to destroy those statues.

Oooops, we haven't actually found any yet, have we?

We should let Railtrack (or Son of Railtrack) assume responsibility for the upkeep of the statue. Give it six months and it will be reduced to its component stones.

Abu Dhabi TV showed it all in glorious techni. Does anyone here agree with me that yer man with the sledge looked so well-fed that Field Security (or whatever the US Marine equivalent is) ought to have a word? After all, if you're going to change sides you might as well show enthusiasm...

I'm not sure about that banner though - looked to me rather like a Human Shield banner reading "Go Home US ******s!". If so they looked a little isolated. Robert Fisk reported in today's Indy that a US officer in the 3 Bat, 4th Marines - the man with the ex-Pentagon flag - was insulted by an American peacenik girlie on arrival in Fardus Square, so they are still wandering about. Wonder what they'll do now?

Errrr Drapes! The last time I drove past the Angel of the North it looked as though somebody already did! :D

Perhaps a new career beckons for the US armed forces. Statue Toppling. Got a effigy that's blocking out the sun. Then call in the 14th Armoured Toppling Brigade. No statue too tall, no bust too wide. They could diversify into a bit of tree surgery as well. What with all the 90' Leyllandii trees in the UK they would be kept busy for a while. ;)

I still say they should have called in Fred Dibnah. Knock out a few rows of brick round the bottom, pack the gap with old tractor tyres then set the whole thing alight.

Can somebody come and topple the Statue of Donald Dewar in Glasgow as his £40m Holyrood effigy is now going to cost us £400m or £100 per person in Scotland. Did he mislead us about the cost or was he so incompetent that he didn't bother to have the project costed!!:mad:

332M

332M - just incompetent - but not as incompetent as his successors who have REALLY let it get out of hand. However, I thought there were around 8 million people in Scotland - so 50 quid per head?

Any other votes for statues that deserve a good toppling?

Wonder if Kim Jong Il is having his re-inforced?

Wiley....

Wishful thinking on your part.....in the scheme of things....it will be a fart in a whirlwind. As the Iraqi's learn what freedom is all about....and being secure in their homes....and not having to worry about being tortured and killed at will by an oppressive government.....that flag will be welcome. The rest of the despots in that part of the world are the ones that best worry about where that flag shows up. You just are going to have to accept as a liberal....that your impression of what is important or earth shattering doesn't amount to much to the man in the street. For craps sake Wiley....they are burning that flag in streets all over the Fundamentalist Muslim world on a daily basis.....that deal in Baghdad doesn't mean a thing. They hate us now....and nothing shy of giving them a dose of the medicine Saddam got will change it. The people that want to live in the Dark Ages are just going to have to adapt to living in a modern world...read the UN report that sets forth the reasons for the problems in the Middle East....and offer your criticism to those that are causing the problems. (Hint...Wiley...it ain't the folks from the Western Societies.....you will have to look further east for the reasons)

SASless, after reading [b]Wiley's'/b] expanded comments on the Iraqi thread on 'Jetblast', I'd be putting my money of his assessment rather than yours- what amounts to wishful thinking.

I wouldn't call anything Wiley said 'wishful thinking', Sasless, just 'telling it like it is.' The big mistake too many Americans make is to think that people in the Middle East want their countries to be like America. Nothing could be further from the truth - they (the men) are especially concerned by the 'fate' of women in Western societies.

Is this the same bearded individual, who was photographed with Chalibi , but this time was wearing an FIF uniform, prior to the statue coming down?

Or perhaps he was one of the other half dozen or so more vocal detractors of all things Saddam,performing for the cameras, who have also been photographed in FIF uniform?

Oh dear

I've no doubt there were spontaneous demonstrations, after all, Ernst Stavros Rumsfeld described it all as "High Spirits" I believe, and admonished the media for reporting looting, rape and thuggery and shootings when it was all just people celebrating....

Its certainly a 180 from the days of yore, it was the conquerers that did the looting, rape, pillage and burning,in those days, now it seems to be the conquered.
:(