So this morning I got an email which referenced an image of a soldier, mourning fallen comrades, and a small child consoling the soldier. The story as it is told in the email, is that the statue was cast by an artist in Iraq named Kalat who originally produced the propaganda statues of Saddam Hussein, but to thank Americans for liberating Iraq, he used the bronze from some melted statues of Saddam to produced the statue in question…
So of course, before putting the picture up I decided to grab the facts if possible about it. Yes, it was created by an artist named Kalat, yes it was created from bronze obtained by melting statues of Saddam Hussein. However, he was in fact paid $8,000 for it by the military from the donations of troops. Beyond that though, the Leftist spin is unavoidable. You wouldn’t see the story covered by major media outlets for the simple reason that it is something good and positive coming from Iraq. Beyond that however, the ‘urban legends’ portion of About.com shows its true colors and typical Leftist nonsense by not referring to fact, but referring to another article to base its opinion that the guy Kalat really disliked America. Conveniently enough, they provided a link to the original story…well, not the original story, but a reprint of the original Wall Street Journal story from the San Diego Union-Tribune. They do a fairly good job of explaining the story, but then the spin comes on, as by reading the article anyone can see Kalat being quoted directly in regards to his feelings on Saddam Hussein, his job, etc… But then it is implied that “The officers didn’t question Alussy further about his political views. Had they pressed him, they might have learned he is harshly critical of the United States and bitter over a U.S. rocket attack during the war that killed his uncle. Alussy said he thinks the war was fought for oil and holds the United States responsible for the violence and unemployment that since have plagued Iraq.†The kicker is, there is no quote to back up the opinion. There is in fact a quote which says he did the job for money, just like he did for Saddam, but beyond that, it seems the editors at the Wall Street Journal had once again invented an imaginary opinion to back up their Liberal Leftist agenda, I wonder how the article might have read AFTER the elections of ’04.
