“The day before the first bombing run on Bhagdad during the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi TV showed a mass of Iraqi soldiers marching beneath the huge crossed swords of the Victory Arch, to the theme music from ‘Star Wars’.””
Samir Al-Khalil’s book, The Monument, deals with the subject of monuments built by Saddam in modern day Baghdad.
Some of the details of these monuments are a perfect study in monstrosity. Take, for example, the above mentioned celebratory arch constructed in honour of the victory in the war with Iran.
“The triumphal arch is shaped as two pairs of crossed swords, made from the guns of dead Iraqi soldiers that were melted and recast as the 24-ton blades of the swords. Captured Iranian helmets are in a net held between the swords. And surrounding the base of the arms are another 5,000 Iranian helmets taken from the battle field. The fists that hold the swords aloft are replicas of Saddam Hussein