Exactly 10 years after the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad’s main square, a former SAS soldier still hopes to raise money through selling a piece of the figure.
Scenes of jubilation as the towering statue was pulled down were shown around the world on 9 April, 2003, and symbolised the end of Saddam’s 24-year reign.
Crowds severed the head of the fallen effigy, while around the capital other statues and pictures of the former leader were torn down.
Nigel Ely, 53, a former paratrooper who served in the 1990-91 Gulf War, was in Baghdad’s Firdous Square, the day after the incident where the statue was “surrounded by tanks”.
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Working as a photojournalist, he introduced himself as an ex-soldier to US marines guarding the relic and asked if he could take a piece of it.
“They said ‘Yea, buddy” and I hacked off a piece with the help of the US marines,” he said.
Using a sledgehammer and chisel, Mr Ely worked through the thick bronze, ending up with a 2ft (0.6m) chunk of statue depicting the ex-leader’s buttock.
