Yesterday marked the anniversary of the toppling of the statue of Saddam in Firdos Square, Baghdad. The square saw no celebrations to mark the date, the square was under a US-imposed curfew, instead US soldiers removed posters of Moqtada al-Sadr from the bronze sculpture which has taken the fallen dictator's place. A metaphor of the situation in occupied Iraq perhaps?

More worrying are the events carrying on away from the cameras. Events in Fallujah for instance, which is the target of US vengeance following the murder and mutilation of four 'civillian' security personnel in the town last week. The severity of the situation is considerable. As Brian Dominick notes, despite the fact they've "only taken over an estimated 1/5 of the city -- an industrialized section with few residents -- they've already killed upwards of 500 civilians. What will happen when the Marines try to take the residential neighborhoods?" Clearly this freedom thing's shaping up to be a lot of fun!

If you should doubt the potential horrors of the situation this video clip taken from CNN speaks volumes.