While it’s a very good thing that troops have been able to more or less easily enter the palace(s) of Mr. Hussein, I’m disappointd that the “symbols of the Iraqi regime” are being destroyed for two reasons. First, it seems that if anyone is to destroy these cultural artifacts, it should be Iraqis themselves; the Berlin Wall and the statues of Lenin came down by citizens, not by militias. Second, these artifacts, whatever their value or ultimate worth, are important signs of a regime that will eventually be needed to remember, to re-think, and to recall the times of the brutalist Saddam Hussein regime. It’s an unusual case of form over content — these forms should be preserved for future exhibitions for the children of Iraq.