U.S. Marines put a Iraqi flag on the face of a statue of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), seen in this image from video, before the statue was toppled Wednesday, April 9, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/APTN)
A U.S. Marine M88 armored recovery vehicle pulls down a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), April 9, 2003. Jubilant Iraqis tied a noose around a huge statue of Saddam Hussein in the heart of Baghdad and pelted it with shoes on Wednesday as the Iraqi president's 24-year rule collapsed in chaos. In scenes reminiscent of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, crowds cheered as men climbed the huge statue of Saddam in the center of Baghdad and placed the rope around the neck in preparation to topple it. REUTERS TV
An Iraqi man throws stones at a statue of Iraq (news - web sites)'s President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) as it falls in central Baghdad April 9, 2003. U.S. troops pulled down a 20-foot (six metre) high statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad on Wednesday and Iraqis danced on it in contempt for the man who ruled them with an iron grip for 24 years. In scenes reminiscent of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Iraqis earlier took a sledgehammer to the marble plinth under the statue of Saddam. Youths had placed a noose around the statue's neck and attached the rope to a U.S. armoured recovery vehicle. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
In this image from video U.S. Marines help bring down a giant statue of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in a square in central Baghdad as Iraqis celebrate below, unseen, on Wednesday, April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/APTN)
Cpl Edward Chin from New York of the 3rd battalion, 4th Marines regiment, set up the star and stripes flag on the face of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s statue before to tear down it, in downtown Bagdad, Wednesday, April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)
Cpl. Edward Chin, from New York, of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment, set up an Iraqi flag around the neck of a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) before it was torn down in Bagdad, Wednesday, April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)
A U.S. Marine covers the face of a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) with a U.S. flag in Baghdad April 9, 2003. U.S. troops briefly draped an American flag over the face of a giant statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad on Wednesday as they prepared to topple it in front of a crowd of Iraqis. The gesture, likely to be highly provocative in much of the Arab world where the U.S. invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) has stirred widespread anger, was quickly reversed and an Iraqi flag was tied instead to the statue's neck. Local residents had earlier scaled the 20-foot (six metre) statue and slipped a noose around its neck to drag it down. REUTERS TV