[icernet] Historic moment or staged publicity shot?

[Arul Selvan]

  "One of the 'most memorable images of the war' is created when U.S.  
troops pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Fardus Square. ...   
The entire event is being hailed as an equivalent of the Berlin  Wall 
falling... but even a quick glance of the long-shot photo shows 
something more akin to a carefully constructed media event tailored for 
the television cameras." Meanwhile, BBC journalist  Paul Wood reports 
that the US flag that was placed over the face of  Saddam's statue "was 
the flag that was flying over the Pentagon on  September 11. For a lot 
of the American marines, they think this  war is all about defeating 
terrorism, they will tell you that over  and over again. There is also a 
connection in the minds of the  American public between the regime of 
Saddam and what happened on  September 11, and apparently the flag that 
was draped over this  face was flying over the Pentagon when the plane 
crashed into it."  O'Dwyer's PR Daily called the photo-op a " PR 
bonanza" for the Pentagon.

Source:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2842.htm