When the mighty fall — and, in time, they all do — it can be literal.
The point was graphically made this week when, as Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppling, so, too, were depictions of him, most noticeably a 40-foot-tall statue in Baghdad’s central square pulled down by a jubilant, vindictive local mob and a visiting tank.
Such attacks have taken place nearly every time a once-feared ruler is brought to account, from Louis XIV to Stalin, to Batista to Khomeini. Sometimes the bronze horse goes down with its hated rider in an instance of collateral damage. In some cases, retribution has been direct as well (Mussolini comes to mind), while other dictators (Noriega, Amin) escaped, leaving the effigy to suffer for the sins of its self-aggrandizing original.
