Talk:Firdos Square

POV
"The site of the famous image of American troops toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein - many critics have since pointed out that the event was staged and images of the celebrating Iraqis were doctored to make the crowd appear larger than the few dozen who actually attended"

First, it is hard to doctor live TV. I'm also reading that around 150 Iraqis (rather than a "few dozen") were there even from sites critical of the event, and the article cited makes no mention of Fidrus Square specifically. Hmm, staged... rather than spontaneous? I'll try to look that up, but I'm sure there are people more aware of what's happening in Iraq than me that could try to confirm what's written. Xen0phile 16:08, 28 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I found many blogs and indymedia posts, plus this Seattle PI editorial. Some make reference to an article by Robert Fisk for the Independent, but a paid subscription is required to read it. Xen0phile 17:18, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Saddam statue photos
The current statue photo, Image:SaddamStatue.jpg, may be copyrighted, and I believe a version of it was deleted at least once already from wikipedia and/or the commons.

Versions of it are in use in many places (legally and illegally):
 * http://images.google.com/images?q=saddam+statue+pulled+down

Click the above Google image search to see some locations. Here is one:
 * http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6210000/newsid_6217500/6217577.stm

I found a version of the photo with the photographer's name with it:
 * http://www.katu.com/news/national/5040131.html

The caption under the photo reads:

"A U.S. Marine watches a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Firdaus Square, in downtown Bagdhad in this April 9, 2003 file photo. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)"

Normally, photos on U.S. military sites are in the public domain. A version of this photo is at:
 * http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15524
 * Photo at www.defenselink.mil

But that is no guarantee that an image is in the public domain. I have seen this with a few photos found on military sites. They make mistakes, too.

Here is the current deletion request page:
 * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Image:SaddamStatue.jpg

It is also listed here:
 * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/2007/10/19

I see now that the statue pedestal and the base of the mosque dome have no sky visible between them in the copyrighted photo. There is a clear section of sky between them in the photo from the military site.

So maybe the photo copied to the commons is in the public domain after all. It would be good to clear this up. Please see the discussion at
 * commons:Commons:Deletion requests/Image:SaddamStatue.jpg --Timeshifter 23:37, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Famous Events
I suggest that you change the name of the "Anti-American Protest" to "Anti-Occupation Protest", since that would more accurately reflect the nature of the protest. It wasn't Anti American, rather it was against Coalition forces being in Iraq.58.109.122.114 (talk) 01:41, 11 December 2009 (UTC)