Iraqis have toppled a 20-foot high statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad in a gesture of deep contempt for the man who ruled them with an iron grip for a quarter century.
Using their shoes, a sledgehammer and eventually a crane youths felled the statue within the last few minutes.
Saddam, who has ruled Iraq through three wars and years of suffering since he assumed the presidency of his oil-rich country in 1979, had vowed to defeat an invasion launched by the United States and Britain last month to overthrow him.
But his forces offered little resistance as US forces thrust deep into the heart of the Iraqi capital.
US marines had rumbled up to the Palestine Hotel, overlooking the statue, in the late afternoon. Showing the soles of feet is considered impolite in the Middle East and throwing shoes is a particular sign of contempt.