Az-Zubayr, Iraq - A crowd of about 500 Iraqis cheered on Wednesday after Britain's Desert Rats unit demolished a five-metre high, five-ton bronze statue of President Saddam Hussein.
Lance Corporal Graeme Church said the British forces were shocked by the response they received when they began to knock down the statue.
"As soon as the locals saw what we were doing, they started coming out to watch," said the 27-year-old from the north-eastern English city of Middlesborough.
"It was as though over the years the statue had helped to put a stranglehold on the whole town and by its destruction the people had been emancipated.
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| Saddam's head was ripped from the body |
"Hopefully its destruction will be sign of things to come for Saddam and his followers."
Saddam's head was ripped from the body.
The demolition had been ordered by military chiefs after they decided that all images of Saddam should be removed from the streets.
The move has been designed to, as one senior officer described it, "free the hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people from Saddam's 24-year rule.
The beheaded statue was then dragged back from the town's market square to the Desert Rats camp on the outskirts of Az-Zubayr, where it now stands as a war trophy in the unit's yard.
The statue had shown Saddam dressed in full military dress saluting to the skies. - Sapa-AFP
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