Artist decries statues' destruction

The Iraqi sculptor responsible for many grandiose statues of Saddam Hussein destroyed by gleeful mobs in the past two weeks has attacked the destruction of his art as childish.

"What's the point of pulling down monuments? It's like the revenge of a child," Ali al-Jabiri said at his home near Rome. "I'm not bothered. I will continue to make statues as long as I live, even if people destroy them." Mr Jabiri went to Italy 30 years ago to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, and settled down in the coastal town of Ostia.

But three times a year he returned to Baghdad to discuss and execute his sculptural projects. "I have designed many statues of Saddam Hussein," he said. "It's not a sin. I contributed to the modernisation of his image, eliminating the sword in his hands and taking him off his horse. We live in an age of airplanes and computers. It was necessary to depict Saddam as a soldier with a pistol and rifle."

Mr Jabiri helped to make the massive statue in Baghdad that was pulled down with the help of US troops on Wednesday last week, becoming a symbol of the fall of Saddam. He said: "I remember urging the authorities to make it very strong, using bronze and steel on the inside, so that even the strongest cannon shell could not bring it down."