Was the statue scene staged?

www.uk.indymedia.org...

Interesting article which poses the question, were the 150 Iraqi's who jumped up and down on the statue actually members of Ahmed Chalabi's "Free Iraqi Fighters".

Makes you wonder...

"The up close action video of the statue being destroyed is broadcast around the world as proof of a massive uprising. Still photos grabbed off of Reuters show a long-shot view of Fardus Square... it's empty save for the U.S. Marines, the International Press, and a small handful of Iraqis. There are no more than 200 people in the square at best. The Marines have the square sealed off and guarded by tanks. "

PS Can't stop this bloody bold thing from happening, anyone got any ideas what's causing it?

[Edited on 10-4-2003 by dom]

I thought so also. Common, what cant the propaganda machine fake. besides another attack.

of Iraqis throwing flowers and cheering American troops are faked too, eh? Funny, that even the ARAB reporters saw it with their own eyes and reported it as well... Certainly, something as blatant as this would have been splashed all over the front page of Arab newspapers....

Indeed, it would.

We'll see if this gets more coverage in the next day or so. Reading through the BBC News war diaries, it seems that one of the Baghdad correspondents is having a particularly bad time right now...

"Baghdad :: David Willis :: 1218GMT

I'm holed up in what once was an elaborate palace but it is in ruins now. The fierce fighting continues all around us here and the city of Baghdad is far from secure.
"

Just looking at the image of the Baghdad square though (from the link above), don't you think it's a little bit fishy?

off and secured while filming the scene... I read more into it, as if you were implying that those Iraqis weren't there of their own free will. Those smilles and tears on their faces looked pretty damned real to me...

Yep, but they all looked like men of fighting age. Is it impossible to think that the young men were actually opposition Iraqi fighters brought in by the CIA to add a touch of the cheering Iraqi's to the scene?

I'm sure they'd be very happy to be pulling down one of Saddam's statues, but it's a bit dishonest isn't it?

all over Iraq, it doesn't look like there was any kind of shortage of those who would be willing to pull down the statue...be they resistance fighter, or citizen...so it's kind of a leap to suggest they felt the need to "stage" it...

Yep, I'd tend to agree. But it wouldn't excuse staging this event, in front of the media's hotel, with a bunch of Iraqi freedom fighters...

Of course, brilliant PR, convinces us we've nearly won, convinces the Iraqis they've nearly lost.

Was the initial stupidity of using the US vs the Iraqi flag...hehe...

Originally posted by dom
We'll see if this gets more coverage in the next day or so. Reading through the BBC News war diaries, it seems that one of the Baghdad correspondents is having a particularly bad time right now...

"Baghdad :: David Willis :: 1218GMT

I'm holed up in what once was an elaborate palace but it is in ruins now. The fierce fighting continues all around us here and the city of Baghdad is far from secure.
"

Just looking at the image of the Baghdad square though (from the link above), don't you think it's a little bit fishy?

Yes, Dom. It must be fake. Nobody in there right mind would openly accept the American and pull down the statue of such a great leader as Hussein.

Obviously a staged scene.

Enough with the sarcasm. Who would the propaganda be for? Are the Iraqis able to watch TV now? I thought the stations had been knocked offline. And the point is good that the Arab reporters would not likely go along with that.

[Edited on 10-4-2003 by Thomas Crowne]

I was watching it live on BBCWorld and they were panning in and out from their high up hotel room, which gave me a conflicting perspective. On one hand, I saw a crowd, they would pan out, you wouldnt see many people. I didnt think it was too good to put the US flag on his face, then take it down and put the old Iraqi flag up. They should have just put the IRaqi there in the first place, but strange things can happen in the heat of the moment. I dont doubt the validity of it being real, however, I do question the numbers of people reported to be there.

here's a pic

While watching CNN a resident of Baghdad said that all the dirt bags that were running around looting the businesses and office buildings were in fact not from baghdad. She also said she just wanted order.

So, it's basically like. People from East LA come out of the wood work and go crazy in Beverly Hills stealing everything they can while they can. What I saw on TV holds no water. The same thing would happen in America also!

You know it and I know it.

Only one thing comes to mind when I see what's going on over there. My father always ran this line by me. It's from a WHO song.

Meet the new boss.... Same as the old boss.

The �Moron Quotient has risen to astronomic proportions here�

So who'se the moron? Asking the difficult questions is a sign of iintelligence.

I think that it may well have been a self fulfilling illusion that gave the iraqis the chance to give up fighting for a regime they hated anyway. It worked ... my thoughts including some stuff from here ... stuffucanuse.com...

Originally posted by Affirmative Reaction
The �Moron Quotient has risen to astronomic proportions here�

Staging that picture with Iraqi oppositionals is a REALLY lame thing to do...

Makes the Iraqi people looks as if they liked the invaders as much as their former caretaker ...

damn everything can be taken as propaganda I guess. hell... cows in a field on a countryide can be propaganda or faked to a city boy i guess. # man. lol


its real to me. so f u c k all the noise.

Originally posted by Mokuhadzushi

Makes the Iraqi people looks as if they liked the invaders as much as their former caretaker ...

The invaders ? THE INVADERS ? BWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh my god, what a laugh !

Thanks man, it was sooooooooooo funny.

I felt the same way at first. I noticed that in one scene there were no people around the statue as it fell, yet in another the statue was surrounded as it fell. There is actually footage of two different statues. If you look closely they are different statues in different locations. Thus my conclusion is that it was not staged, just that the two statues were confused as being the same one.

I felt the same way at first. I noticed that in one scene there were no people around the statue as it fell, yet in another the statue was surrounded as it fell. There is actually footage of two different statues. If you look closely they are different statues in different locations. Thus my conclusion is that it was not staged, just that the two statues were confused as being the same one.