2nd Thoughts (Iraqi Artist Honors Americans)

www.countypressonline.com ^ | 3/10/04 | William Lawrence

[Tribune7]

An Iraqi artist named Kalat for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country, he melted three of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades.

[Tribune7]

The column runs in a Delaware County, Pa. newspaper chain

[Tribune7]

ping

[Spok]

You know the liberal press loves an emotional story, I wonder how it missed this one? (sarcasm)

[Eala]

ping

[Plutarch]

Photo, more info here at Snopes.com

[Eala]

It appeared in the Wall Street Journal, last week I think.

[Cousin Eddie]

True story is not quite so touching.

He was forced to help make the bronze sculptures of Saddam that were eventually melted to make this. Indeed, he hated Saddam, but he also dislikes the Americans because his uncle was killed during the war. He wants us out of there. He basically did it for the money. Something like $8000 for the soldier kneeling before the rifle/helmut, then a larger amount to add the girl.

Read the recent WSJ article. He didn't do this out of gratitude.

[Temple Owl]

Read the recent WSJ article. He didn't do this out of gratitude.

I read it and re-read it. I must be going blind because I could not find any mention of him doing it for money, Could you please post?

[Cousin Eddie]

Front page article, 4th column of WFJ from Monday, 3/8/04. This part is from the continuation on page A6...

"The officers didn't question Mr. Alussy Further about his political views. Had they pressed him, they might have learned thyat 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 made the statues of Saddam -- even though I didn't want to -- becasuse I needed the money...and I decided to make the statues for the Americans for the exact same reason.'

...Mr. Alussy agreed to do the job [kneeling soldier and rifle/helmut] for $8,000...

...the division's commander...decided it needed a clearer connection to Iraq. The general suggested adding a small child to symbolize Iraq's new future...Mr. Alussy demanded $10,000 more. 'He learned capitalism real fast,' Sgt. Fuss says."

[Cousin Eddie]

By the way, the County Press spells his name 'Kalat' while the WSJ spells his first name 'Khalid'. Same guy.

[Temple Owl]

Thank you

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the ping, Eala.

Thanks for the post, Tribune7.

SO cool that mainstream papers are picking up this story.

8 Toppled Saddam statues reborn as memorial for U.S. soldiers ~ Killeen Daily Herald  | 12/23/03 | Spc. Benjamin R. Kibbey

(Freeper Spc. Kibbey signed up to thank us for posting his work.)

[Tribune7]

Thank you, RC. I'd wish the big dailies saw the goodness of publishing this.

[Tribune7]

ping

[baseballmom]

Nice article.

Heard on Channel 6 yesterday that GW is going to be in Ardmore on Monday. I'm trying to find out more info, I would like to go over and show him some support. Anyone know anything about this visit?

[Mo1]

No .. that's the first I heard of it .. I check on WPVI's site but didn't see anything

[Tribune7]

I haven't heard anything.

[baseballmom]

I heard it on the 6 o'clock news. I checked their website and found nothing - so I watched the 11:00 news and Jim said the same thing. He's coming to Ardmore to talk about home ownership.

I checked out the websites for the Delaware and Montgomery County GOP and saw nothing there. I'll do more checking and let you know if I find anything out. I'm NOT missing this event.