Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP - Archives

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: April 10, 2003
Latest Update: April 10, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

A Picture Story of the Fall of Baghdad

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, April 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

I chose these pictures from the New York Times today to tell the story of the Fall of Baghdad, as it felt to me. I'm going to follow the kind of format I did in Arnold Rock Climbing in Yosemite. That means I'm going to tell the story in as few pictures as possible, just enough to give you a sense of what I was feeling. First, we need to include the image of Baghdad, as seen from Palestine:

Baghdad at War

Remember I spoke of the horror of recognizing the beauty of a place I had never been, will probably never have a chance to go, and how incongruous that was with the war and my feelings opposing war generally. Perhpas that should remind me that beauty and good do not always go together. Victo Hugo, who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre Dame de Paris) tried to say that by depicting the beauty of the soul of Quasimodo, the hunchback, as contrasted with the pain and suffering of his body. He also painted the soul of the Priest black, to remind us that what appears to be beautiful or good is not always so. An idea encapsulated in the saying: "Don't judge a book by its cover."

References:

• Victor Hugo and French Romanticism
• Poe and French Romanticism By Charles Lombard, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. E.A. Poe Society. Scroll down to about the last third of the file for this section: Link added April 10, 2003.
• Gottfried Keller and German Romanticism

This second photo shows the U.S. troops helping to pull down Saddam's statue, and the background shows the same view of Baghdad as that in the first photo. Actually the photograph on the front page of the NY Times was preferable. The arm of the statue didn't obscure the view of the mosque, but I couldn't locate that photo when I hunted for it online. This is a reminder that the photo doesn't have to be perfect; it's the story you're telling that counts. And there's nothing wrong with doing your own drawings or paintings or painting on a photo when the story will benefit from it.

* * * * *

I'll go on with the essay tomorrow. Or you can go on and send it in to me . . . jeanne

U.S. troops pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad today.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * * * *

British troops now control Basra, Iraq's second largest city.
Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * * * *

A U.S. marine showed off a souvenir.
Oleg Popov /Reuters
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * * * *

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
A statue of Saddam Hussein remained standing in front of the burning National Olympic Committee in Baghdad. Another statue, at Firdos Square, was toppled.
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * * * *

Iraqis helped U.S. troops topple a statue of Saddam Hussein.
Karim Sahib/Agence France-Presse
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

"April 11, 2003
As Put-Downs Go, a Shoe Can Deliver a Special Kick
By The New York Times

"[S] hoes have been the weapon of choice in recent days for Iraqi civilians with an urge to beat on something, the fallen statue of a dictator for example.

"But the shoe is more than a convenient weapon for those unequipped with a Kalashnikov or something more efficient. Rather, it is a potent cultural symbol.

"Sanaa Mounir, a professor of cultural studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., explained yesterday that Arabs consider the sole of the shoe a symbol of the dirt of the earth, of all that is unclean.

"Using your shoe to whack someone — or their graven image — then, is tantamount to stepping on them, according to Dr. Mounir.

"It is common practice to remove shoes in mosques and generally at home, and it is considered impolite to point the sole of a shoe at anyone."

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

* * * * *

---

---