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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    The Washington Post reveals the fate of the American flag that covered the face of a statue of Sadda

    Rocky
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    The Washington Post reveals the fate of the American flag that covered the face of a statue of Sadda Empty The Washington Post reveals the fate of the American flag that covered the face of a statue of Sadda

    Post by Rocky Sun 09 Apr 2023, 3:50 pm

    [size=38]The Washington Post reveals the fate of the American flag that covered the face of a statue of Saddam[/size]


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    April 9, 2023[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
    Twenty years ago, Tim McLaughlin's flag appeared briefly as a symbol of victory in Iraq and the hope that American military power might democratize the Middle East.
    McLaughlin was a young Marine Corps officer whose platoon was among the first American units to reach Firdous Square in central Baghdad.
    He and the other Marines were greeted by a few dozen Iraqis who set out, using sledgehammers and rope, to tear down a 40-foot statue of Saddam Hussein.
    Eventually a marine craft with a giant crane was called in.
    Tens of millions of people around the world watched as McLaughlin's American flag briefly draped over the head of the statue of the deposed dictator, the marine craft's engines roaring and breaking the statue at its legs.
    The events of April 9, 2003 seem to confirm Washington's promise of a quick and appropriate victory and Americans' expectations on how to end wars. Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, called the view from the Pentagon "breathtaking." Through the cables, news commentators compared the coup to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
    In the months after McLaughlin returned home from Iraq, the war turned into a grinding insurgency, and images of his flag linger atop the statue in Firdaus Square as a reminder of America's rush to war and the arrogance of its leaders. 
    McLaughlin imagined he would take a picture with the flag somewhere in Iraq that he could show his future children and grandchildren.
    Now McLaughlin is a partner in a law firm, husband and father of two sons at the age they still want to be just like him. Pulling the American flag, folded in a brown accordion file.
    The war that broke out twenty years ago to overthrow a dictator and spread democracy left him with questions: What to do with the violent and traumatic memories of his time in Iraq? How does he talk about his war to his sons, who are just beginning to question it? How could he explain why his hands were still trembling when he thought about it?
    The American flag was bought by a friend of McLaughlin's sister-in-law at a souvenir shop in the United States Capitol.
    In early 2003, he saved it to his duffel and headed off to war in Iraq.
    At 4:30 p.m. dozens of Marines arrived at the deserted square. They were soon greeted by journalists, peace demonstrators, and Iraqi citizens, who approached cautiously at first and then began amassing their cars. In his private notebook, McLaughlin described the scene as "pandemonium".
    Gunnery Sergeant. Leon Lambert, who drove a crane-like vehicle, to demolish Saddam's statue.
    He gave the Iraqis a hammer and a rope. A few of them, including a former Iraqi weightlifter, took turns banging on the pedestal. Others climbed a rickety ladder and wrapped the rope around his neck, but made little progress.
    The senior officer in the field noticed the large number of reporters and decided that the Marines should help. Lambert ordered the statue to be demolished. Someone told McLaughlin to find his flag, and 23-year-old Brooklyn draped the flag over the face of the statue and tied a heavy chain around its neck. Watch McLaughlin from the ground and take a picture with your disposable camera.
    Soon, the Iraqis were tearing the statue apart and hitting the severed head with their boots.
    In 2009, the National Museum of the Marine Corps sent McLaughlin letters about donating its flag. “It is a wonderful piece of history,” a museum official wrote to him. At the time, the flag was stored in a safe deposit box belonging to McLaughlin's father.
    McLaughlin asked a couple of questions about how to display it and then decided the best place for it would be the basement. McLaughlin said of the flag that "it has meaning to me, and it is different from what it means to others."
     
    Translation of the Obelisk _ Muhammad Al-Khafaji
    Source (https://tinyurl.com/4ab2hucf)
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