European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 9, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday april 9 stars and stripes Page top Marine Tours bases in Iraq hears complaints by Robert Burns the associated press fal Lujah Iraq when he embarked on a visit to marines in Iraq and aboard ship sin the per Sian Gulf Gen James t Conway figured he would get a Boatload of questions about his new policy on tattoos he figured wrong the Marine corps Comman Dant five months into his Job As the services top general found his troops More curious about pay and promotion policies As Well As the War debate Back Home in the More than a dozen ques Tiona answer sessions last week not a single Marine complained about Iraq duty or won dered when the War would end some did ask for better equip intent and Conway assured them they soon would have new vehicles with More Protection against Roadside bombs Conway did get a few questions on his new policy Banning excessive tattoos one Marine told the Tattoo free Conway it was an important wartime Issue i love tattoos to infatuated with them the Marine said sometimes people dont under Conway stand them but if s part of a Warrior heritage Conway assured him he could continue to satisfy his inky Pas Sion so Long As any tattoos received after april 1 were not of the Fullam or sleeve variety that Conway sees As detracting from a professional appearance Conway was the senior com Mander of Marine forces in the initial used invasion of Iraq in 2003 the following year he re turned for a second tour that included the aborted assault on fal Lujah in april 2004 last week he came Back to As sess Progress in Iraq and to offer his marines a morale boost at a time when they Are being squeezed by increasingly Short rest and retraining periods be tween Tours in Iraq in fal Lujah he said he met a ser Geant major who was serving his sixth tour in Iraq since the War began there Are about 25000 marines in Iraq mostly in Anbar in Qaim a euphrates River town on the syrian Border con Way visited marines of the 3rd battalion 4th marines on its fourth tour in Iraq the Battal ions commander it col Scott Shuster said he already knows his unit is in line to come Back for a fifth tour probably before the end of this year Conway met with marines in Kuwait where members of the 15th Marine expeditionary unit whose tour in Iraq was extended by two heading Back to then ships and in Bahr Ain the Headquarters for us naval forces in the persian Gulf in Iraq Conway missed no Opportunity to assure marines they need not worry about the Battle Between the White House and Congress Over War Money and a timetable for beginning to with draw troops our countrymen May or May not agree with How this War started or Why were Here he said at Tara drum Treyve matured enough to say that s one thing support of me troops is some thing else and they do support you army Strong is rewarding Joseph and stripes us soldiers drive past the so called hands of Victory Monument in downtown Baghdad in december 2004 destruction of Iraq Monument is put on hold by Joseph Giordono stars and stripes american and iraqi officials have intervened to temporarily halt the destruction of one of Baghdad most famous Sadd Amera monuments according to a report in the new York times the razing of the hands of Victory Monument two massive crossed swords held aloft by giant replicas of Sadd ams hands has been stopped by an influential lobby including the american embassy the iraqi government quietly began tearing Down the Monu ment in mid february with a goal of tearing Down the whole Monument within a week the move was ordered by prime min ister Nouri Almalik and a govern ment organization called the com Mittee for removing symbols of the Saddam Era but Many iraqi and american officials feared the dismantling of the Monument could further deepen the rift Between Iraq shiite majority and its sunni minority whom Saddam favored during his Rule maxims government is Shi Iteld and elements of it have been accused of complicity with shiite death squads according to the times mus Tafa Alkadhimi a shiite and director of the Iraq memory foun Dation pleaded with a Deputy prime minister to save the Monu ment As a reminder of Saddam Rule and the country past the Deputy prime minister then asked several powerful people including thenus ambassador Zal May Khalil Zad to intervene with Malim the destruction was halted shortly after though no Lon term Promise has been made to leave the Monument standing since the fall of Baghdad in 2003 the edifice has become a major tourist attraction of sorts in the Green zone thousands of coalition troops embassy workers contractors and other Green zone denizens have stopped by to take pictures some climbing up a narrow ladder and poking their Torso from a hollow area of a fist there Are actually two sets of hands and crossed swords reach ing 140 feet High flanking the in trance to a Parade ground the 24ton swords were supposedly made from the melted Down and recast guns of dead iraqi sol Diers and some 5000 captured iranian helmets adorn various parts of the Monument the hands that hold the swords report edly Are direct replicas of Sadd ams own hands and the German firm that built the Monument has said the arms were modelled from a photograph provided of Sadd ams forearms on the Day the Monument was inaugurated in 1990 Saddam Rode under the hands astride a White horse an allusion to the slain Shi Ite Martyr Hussein killed in Kar Bala in and 680 the Martyr Hus skins death caused the rift be tween shiite and sunni muslims email Joseph Giordono at