Rumsfeld Painting in Iraq Art Exhibit

I imagine these will be powerful images.
I got this from a friend--sorry no link but it is from the New yorker.


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Rumsfeld Painting in Iraq Art Exhibit
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer

June 7, 2006, 4:15 AM EDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Muayad Muhsin was both inspired and enraged by a photo of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld slumped on an airplane seat with his army boots up in front of him.

"It symbolized America's soulless might and arrogance," said Muhsin, whose similar painting of Rumsfeld will be unveiled in an exhibition opening in Baghdad on Monday.

The painting, expected to be the show's main attraction, and the rest of the exhibit illustrate the simmering anger of Iraqis with the United States as the country continues to endure violence, sectarian tensions and crime three years after Saddam Hussein's ouster.

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The oil-on-canvas, 5-by-3-foot work shows Rumsfeld in a blue jacket, tie, khaki pants and army boots reading from briefing papers. His boots are resting on what appears to be an ancient stone.



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"They did not find the weapons and, instead, found the annals of an ancient civilization that turned into birds of love, peace and knowledge," said Muhsin, himself a native of the area around the central Iraqi city of Babil, or Babylon, south of Baghdad.

"Rumsfeld's boots deliver a message from America: 'We rule the world,'" Muhsin, 41, told The Associated Press in an interview. "It speaks of America's total indifference to what the rest of the world thinks." .......