To celebrate his "victory" over Iran, Saddam decided to build a
Triumphal Arch. The concept of a triumphal arch is a European
import, without precedent in the Middle East since Roman times.
The colossal Hands of Victory monument has dominated Baghdad's
skyline since the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Built in duplicate, it
marks the entrances to a large new parade ground in central
Baghdad, towering 140 feet above the highway. The triumphal arch is
shaped as two pairs of crossed swords, made from the guns of dead
Iraqi soldiers that were melted and recast as the 24-ton blades of
the swords. Captured Iranian helmets are in a net held between the
swords. And surrounding the base of the arms are another 5,000
Iranian helmets taken from the battle field. The fists that hold
the swords aloft are replicas of Saddam Hussein's own hands. The
German company that built the monument, H+H Metalform, said it was
given a photograph of Saddam's own forearms to use as a model.
When Saddam inaugurated these triumphal arches, he rode under
them on a white horse - an allusion to the steed of Hussein, the
Shi'ite Muslim hero martyred at nearby Kerbala. The day before the
first bombing run on Bhagdad during the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi TV
showed a mass of Iraqi soldiers marching beneath the huge crossed
swords of the Victory Arch, to the theme music from 'Star Wars'. In
April 1998 Iraq's "volunteer army" paraded for six hours in
Baghdad's "Grand Festivities Square," the large outdoor arena
marked by the two sets of enormous crossed swords.
Next to the arms, a "cornucopia" spills forth thousands of
helmets - taken from Iranian soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war.
The helmets are used as speed bumps in the road under the
arches.
This was a "hasty" cache - the container is a red plastic cup
with a logbook. To reach the cache, you have to find the opening
that descends into the base of the hand, and climb down the ladder
into the first room. The cache is on the left side about shoulder
height. A flashlight would be helpful here. Bring your own pen.