Ramadi Municipal Building a Sign of Continued Peace [Image 1 of 5]

RAMADI, IRAQ

06.22.2008

Photo by Cpl. Casey Jones 

I Marine Expeditionary Force

Chief Warrant Officers 2 Eric Jett (left), and (middle), Jason Morris, team leaders with Civil Affairs Detachment 2, attached to 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, stand alongside Mahmoud Marre, a local Iraqi contractor, in the front of the statue overlooking the newly-renovated 17th Street Municipal Building, June 22. The unwavering contractor, with his own money, built the statue to serve as a symbol of peace in Ramadi. The statue was built on the site where a picture of Saddam Hussein, the ousted former dictator of Iraq, once stood. "We decided to place a statue with a bird and a globe in front of the building," Marre said. "The new statue is meant to be a symbol of peace in Ramadi; a new chapter for the city. In the past Saddam's face was at that site. It was meant to instill fear in us and remind us that he is an enemy of peace. We removed the old statue as a way out saying this is the new Ramadi, free of Saddam and free of violence."

• Date Taken: 06.22.2008
• Date Posted: 07.02.2008 10:55
• Photo ID: 99523
• VIRIN: 080702-M-1855J-001
• Resolution: 3504x2336
• Size: 704.22 KB
• Location: RAMADI, IQ