Anyone know more about this?

I got this email recently....a picture goes with it

Subject: Fwd: THE NEW BRONZE STATUE IN IRAQ.......
THIS IS GREAT! and something every American should see. Be sure to read the information below.....



This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th
Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the
memorial museum in Fort Hood,Texas.

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was
forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of
Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country; he
melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a
memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors. Kalat worked
on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the
soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news? Because it is heart warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does. But we can do something about it. We can pass this along to as many people as we can in honor of all our brave military who is making a difference. Thank you!!

Send this to everyone in your address book! Pray for and support our
military men and women!

it also doesn't paint america as bad

"Man Builds Statue"
Yeah, Its amazing that didn't make the news.


Of course, the truth is that it did make the news!

i think it'd be nice if it stayed in iraq.

Actually... "Statue Builder Builds Statue"
Gee... I never would have expected...

"I, for one, welcome our new American overlords."

also, the whole story is TOTAL BULLSHIT.

Here's a hint:if you get one of these mass e-mails-its probably bull.

the man was PAID by the military. He made the statue, not out of respect for America, but because he needed the money.

snopes story here

[Edited on Nov 25, 2004 by Point_Blank]

well that figures. bummer.

thank you. it sounded like propaganda to me but i was just checkin.

The American propoganda machine runs so strong that it blows my mind

anyone notice how anglo-saxon the "iraqi" girl is.
Not to mention, you know that he was "paid" or "commissioned" to do it by an occupying force living in his home land.

keep trying to validate the slaughter though, who knows one day the US might be justified in invading, occupying, oppressing, and controlling an entire nation. History shows us that empires always work, and that the occupiers really are there just to protect the occupied from themselves.

What?

haha!
I am better at computers than bean!

posting email forwards is.. ugh.

At least he admitted it was a foreward and didn't get pissy when people called bullshit.

OK keep in mind I'm a trained artist, I work with faces, I have been working on the human form for some time.

So, check out the girl.
Her facial features, clothing, and so on are very "western", and do not look at all "arab".

Now is the time for everyone to jump down my throat.

On three
1
2
3
JUMP!!!!

(I realize this sounds biased, because it is. It was the first thing I noticed though. A minor in western art history, emphasis in sculpture, combined with years of drawing, have taught me to see the difference in faces. That little girl is a "generic" american "little girl", taken straight from the clip art book of "how to make a cute little girl". There is nothing to her, she is as generic as the trooper. That's why the sculpture LOOKS like a Commision. There is no artistic touch to it at all, it has a generic feel to it, and has a limited amount of human touch to it. Which, by just looking at the piece screams "fuck you, I don't want to make this, but you are paying me, and so I will do it with a very limited amount of time, and interaction.")

I can just see that American soldiers being like:

"We want like a combination of Norman Rockwell, and Thomas Kinkaid, think you can do that?"

...a violation of most ISPs Terms of Service?
...anti-social?
... etc etc

You know that childrens' clothing was banned by the sanctions that Iraq has been under for very many years, and so children are wearing western clothing donated by western charities?

Freakishly different looking Iraqi Children:




I dunno, they all look like children to me.

I'm not trying to be racist,
at all...

Just an observation

They look a lot nicer dressed and happier than many British kids - at least they aren't wearing permafrowns, burberry baseball caps and Von Dutch teeshirts

I think it's a nice statue anyway.

The ones who didn't die in the years of sanctions or the bombings or the war? The ones who aren't malnourished or diseased or mutilated?

Fair enough - she does look Anglo Saxon. ( As do most depictions of Jesus for that matter).

I can't help but note that the statue will ultimately be going back to Texas - perhaps the locals aren't quite as enamored with it as the original author would like to think. Also note that it is currently stationed in front of the 4th infantry's headquarters - where it won't be toppled or blown up.

Yea,
I just did a bit of image research for Rockwell paintings that looked like this image. Found one, but it is still different enough that I wont post it.

The image of the "child with soldier" though is such a classic Western propaganda image, that it is hard to not think that this guy was told what to make.

It's kind of amazing when you think about it.
The US Military:
Toppled an empire,
Took it's bronze (an old sign of wealth)
Melted it down
Commissioned a new sculpture to be made in the image of an American Soldier.

They took propaganda, turned it into propaganda, and placed it in the same location as the original statue.

Using the bronze is actually a war crime too, since it's a spoil of war, but hey that's just a technicallity...