Iraq Vet Refuses to Give Up Flag Draped Over Saddam Hussein Statue's Face

With this week marking the 10th anniversary of one of the most potently symbolic snap shots from the Iraq War, many are eager to celebrate the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue by U.S. armed forces in the middle of Baghdad. Marine Lt. Tim McLaughlin is not one of them. The Iraq war who holds the American flag draped over the face of Hussein's statue, has refused to lend the flag to the Marines.

To commemorate one of the most widely seen moments of the Iraq War, the National Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va. asked Lt. McLaughlin for the flag in hopes to display it. However, McLaughlin has said he will continue to keep the flag himself because he doesn't want it used for pro-war propaganda.

"Over the years, I've become more aware of the symbolism that attached to the flag," McLaughlin explained to Salon. "But for me, it doesn't have any of those things-and I don't want it to again."

The American flag that would come to symbolize so much to so many, was originally presented to McLaughlin by one of Sen. Chuck Schumer's staff members in honor his heroism at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.  A mere three weeks into the war 10 years ago, McLaughlin was asked by a superior if Marines could borrow the flag as they aided rejoicing Iraqis in Baghdad's Firdos Square by pulling down the statue of the recently ousted dictator Hussein and draping the American flag over its face.

"There was no big intention behind it," McLaughlin explained to Salon. "My commander said, 'Hey, Mac, when you got a moment, we wanna get a picture of your flag with Saddam's statue.' As soon as it was done, I walked back to my tank and continued security for the rest of the day."

The shots of the head of Hussein's statue covered by the Stars and Stripes instantly became one of the most iconic images of the war. But for McLaughlin, the flag came to symbolize little more than the brutality of war and its shocking injustices, which is why he's decided to donate the flag to a museum exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center. Rather than hoist the flag again as a rallying symbol, McLaughlin's exhibit portrays the up-close humanity of war, displaying the flag alongside his war-time journals of every day life in combat, including detailed records of the kills his unit recorded.

For former Lt. McLaughlin, now a Boston lawyer who works pro bono with low-income and homeless individuals, remembering the reality of war is far more important than using the flag as a means of further championing the success of America in Iraq.  

"For me it was a period of death and killing people," McLaughlin said. "I don't like that it facilitated the media's narrative of wars as neat and tidy things, so that's why when I got back home I just put it away."

According to a recent poll, about 54 percent of Americans opposed the war in Iraq; 38 percent supported the invasion.