Fake statue fails to replace toppled Saddam

By Damien McElroy
Last Updated: 1:15am BST 10/04/2007

It was supposed to be a symbol of the rise of freedom in an Islamic nation with a proud history.
Instead it is an anonymous green blob at the heart of a nation without symbols.

The painted plaster sculpture that replaced Saddam Hussein's statue
Four years ago the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue by US marines in central Baghdad stood as the moment the regime's downfall was complete.

Two months later an artists' collective erected a replacement statue called Najeen, or Survivor. It shows a woman, supported by a man and a child, holding up an Islamic crescent moon that frames a Sumerian sun.

It attracted universal derision and scuttled the career of its sculptor, Basim Hamid. Painted dark green to give the impression that the plaster figure is a bronze, its features are hard to make out in Baghdad's harsh sunlight.

In the midst of escalating violence there were few in Iraq who took succour from its dedication "to freedom-loving people everywhere". Many remember a two-line piece of graffiti written on the plinth soon after it was erected. It said: "All Donne (sic). Go Home."

Najeen was the first, and remains the most enduring, attempt to graft a new image on post-war Iraq.

There was also an effort to create a new flag but that failed when the design adopted by the American-selected Governing Council reminded many Iraqis of its Israeli counterpart.

As sectarian factions struggle for supremacy, flags and symbols remain a potent battleground.

The government of Nouri al-Maliki has undercut its own rhetoric of national reconciliation by continuing to demolish monuments erected by Saddam.

Last month it decided to dismantle a giant arch of crossed swords with hanging bags of Iranian military helmets which commemorates the fallen of the Iran/Iraq war. American troopers started to loot the helmets as souvenirs.

Chipped but not broken, Najeen and the Hands of Victory swords co-exist uneasily in a country that has yet to find its way out of four years of bloodshed.

LinkHere