Hands of Victory Arches: to celebrate his "Victory" over Iran, Saddam decided to build a pair of triumphal arches that mark the entrances to a large parade ground. Each arch consists of a pair of massive hands emerging from the ground, each holding a 140-foot long sword. A small flagpole rises from the point where the swords meet. The arches were 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. Surrounding the base of the arms are another 5,000 Iranian helmets taken from the battlefield. The hands that hold the swords aloft are replicas of Saddam’s own hands. The German company that built the monument was given a photograph of Saddam’s own forearms to use as a model. Additionally, an impression of one of Saddam’s thumbprints was taken and added to the mold for one of the arch’s thumbs. When Saddam inaugurated these triumphal arches, he rode under them on a white horse—an allusion to the steed of Hussein, the Shiite Muslim hero martyred at nearby Karbala. The arches are also known as the Swords of Qadisiyyah, an allusion to the historical Battle of al Qadisiyya. This battle was a decisive engagement between the Arab Muslim Army and the Sassanid Army during the first period of Islamic expansion, which resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia. Saddam often characterized the Iran-Iraq War after this conflict. East Arch: 33.18189ÅKN 44.23108ÅKE; West Arch:33.18215ÅKN 44.22460ÅKE

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