Observations in the Green Zone

[thefool_wa]

I was perusing Google Earth the other day and decided to take a look at Baghdad just to see what kind of airbrushing Google had done to cover up either the destruction of the war or what was being done in the embassy construction area...

<RANT DELETED DUE TO BEING HALF COCKED>

on edit: while my rant about a monument in the embassy ass apparently based on ignorance - it should be noted that Baghdad looked awful intact for having lived through 4 years of war.

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Dude...that monument was built by Iraqis, and refers to the Iran-Iraq War

Slow down, and think a little, you know?

That little country we invaded does have its own war dead from a brutal, long-term war in the 1980's, and they are human beings, who have their own monuments, you know?

Monument to the Unknown Soldier

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is said to be inspired by the glorification of a martyr from the Iran-Iraq war. What looks like to many as a flying saucer frozen in midflight, represents a traditional shield (dira¹a) dropping from the dying grasp of an Iraqi warrior. The monument also houses an underground museum. The artificial hill is shaped like a low, truncated cone of 250 m diameter. It is surrounded by slanting girders of triangular section that are covered with marble. Red granite, stepped platforms of elliptical form lead to the dome and cubic sculpture. The steel flagpole is entirely covered with Murano glass panels fixed on stainless steel arms and displaying the national flag colours. The cantilevered dome is 42m in diameter and follows an inclination of 12 degrees. It's external surface is cladded with copper, while its inner surface features a soffit finished with pyramidal modules alternating steel and copper. The promenade is covered by a semi-circular, flat roof supported on a triangular steel bracing. The roof is covered with a copper sheet and the soffit displays V-shapped panels of stainless steel and Murano glass.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/baghdad-monuments.htm

[thefool_wa]

2. Really?

ok - that does kinda change everything. Disregard my rant - moving on...

Still seems weird that it is right in the middle of our embassy - within what appears to be our walls. I'm gonna have to hit Google Earth again and check it out because if what you are saying is true (and I don't doubt it) then its possible we have cut off Iraqi access to this monument, which still seems an affront, though much less so than what I *thought* I observed.

I thought it seemd overly presumptuous to begin construction of such a monument. And, honestly, its location (within Baghdad) and name made me not even think to go further into it. Everything i have seen about the embassy construction has shown a nearly total rebuild of the neighborhoods we overtook to build it. I didn't think anything original was left inside the embassy construction area.

this is one of those things that qualifies as my bad I think :)

on edit: I edited my post - thanks for the information

[Name removed]

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