Just Another Phony Little Story

There's a winger email circulating with this image and the following tear-jerker text:

This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace,

now home to the 4th Infantry division.
It will eventually be shipped home
and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat,
who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country;
he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam
and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers
and their fallen warriors.
Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news?
Because it is heart warming and praise worthy.
The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect
that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does.

But we can do something about it.
We can pass this along to as many people as we can
in honor of all our brave military who are making a difference.
And please pass this on!

Only problem is that the story is BOGUS !!

The actual unspun truth follows:

However, a Wall Street Journal report that includes an interview with the artist, tells a somewhat less touching story. According to the Journal piece, written by Yochi J. Dreazen, the artist, Khalid Alussy ("Kalat" is an Americanization of his first name), is a sculptor-for-hire. He was not forced to create the statues for Hussein, but rather offered his services to the former regime "because I needed money for my family and to finish my education. And I decided to make statues for the Americans for the exact same reasons." Other discrepancies between official U.S. Military reports (and the e-mail circulating above) of the statue's creation and the Journal report:

* The creation of the statue was not a spontaneous act of gratitude. Alussy was contracted by Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Fuss, the top-ranking enlisted officer of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division.

* Alussy was not "was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country" that he created the statue above out of appreciation. According to the Journal, "The officers didn't question Mr. Alussy further about his political views. Had they pressed him, they might have learned that he's harshly critical of the U.S. and bitter over an American rocket attack during the war that killed his uncle."

* Alussy's original asking price for the work was much higher than the officers of the 4th intended to pay, so they decided to destroy the statues and give the materials to the artist to help lower the price. As a result, Alussy lowered his initial price to $8,000.

* The addition of the Iraqi girl was the concept of Fuss and the Division's commander, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, who wanted the work to have a more clear connection to Iraq. Alussy's price tag for the addition: $10,000.

* Fuss made a request in an internal newspaper for donations, asking each soldier to donate $1 each. They raised $30,000.

You'd think that for all their patriotic hand-wringing wingers would care enough to check facts. Oops, what was I thinking--it's not about the truth (or troops); it's about a political win--at any cost.