Did the Media Inflate the Significance of Toppling Saddam Hussein Statue?

When is what the world knows as an iconic moment, perhaps not an iconic moment? On April 9, 2003, a large statue of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was taken down by U.S. security forces in Baghdad’s Firdos Square. The two-hour toppling took place in front of the Palestine Hotel, where journalists from around the world had been staying. And many reporters hailed it as a sign the U.S. was prevailing in the war and bringing Iraqis closer to liberation.

Media outlets in the United States covered the story and replayed video from the event for days to come. We talk with Peter Maass, who covered the Iraq war for The New York Times Magazine and reports for the latest issue of The New Yorker that the event was inflated and misrepresented by the media. The toppling of the statue, he writes, was a small event in a long war.