Despite the incursion of the invading US forces into the streets of Baghdad in April 2003, many Iraqi soldiers held on to their weapons until the last moment in an attempt to defend the capital.

Among the most famous of those soldiers is Furat Hassan Shaya Al-Hiti, a former employee of the Karrada rescue sector, whose image was circulated by many newspapers, media and communication sites. Hussein in Paradise Square.

Euphrates in front of Paradise Square before the American forces destroyed the statue of President Saddam (French)

a hard day's Night

And about the details of what happened on the day of the fall of Baghdad, Al-Hiti told Al-Jazeera Net, "I was assigned to work in the emergency police within the Rusafa sector, and the place of my station was near the Palestine Hotel." The American invasion, "and I saw it for the first time in early 2016 by chance."

He shows to Al-Jazeera Net that he was doing his duty with 3 policemen, to protect the Palestine Hotel and Paradise Square, and he was not aware of the approaching and crossing of the suspension bridge by US forces, as rumors prevailed in the situation and no one knew what was going on.

US forces, upon entering Baghdad on April 9, 2003, took down the statue of President Saddam (Reuters)

Al-Hiti points out that the day of the fall of Baghdad was difficult and that many incidents and some skirmishes with light weapons took place, and civilians and some affiliates were transferred to safe places, adding, "We were performing the duty of police patrols, until we informed people that the American forces were very close."

He continues, "After the American forces approached Al-Firdaws Square, he and his colleagues decided to withdraw, because they could no longer do anything, and to return to the main cutter to receive directions." Crowded with civilians, where chaos and looting spread.

Al-Hiti expressed his pain at witnessing the looting and vandalism that took place in the government departments of Baghdad, and his inability to do anything to stop this.

Al-Hiti (center) raises his famous picture that shows him carrying his weapon in central Baghdad (Al-Jazeera Net)

unequal confrontation

Furat notes that the last instructions his unit received was to go out for police patrols and raise flags to celebrate the founding of the Baath Party on April 7, and after that day they did not meet with any officer or official.

On the reasons for the collapse of the Iraqi forces, Furat attributed this to the fact that the confrontation was not equal between a person carrying his machine gun and wanting to confront the American armored vehicles reinforced with aviation, and this caused an abnormal fracture among the ranks of the fighters.

And about his impressions after seeing his picture, he confirmed that he was surprised by it because he did not know at the time that one of the journalists had filmed it, as the place at the time was full of journalists and cameras, stressing that the picture brought back sad memories for him, and enjoyed a great popular interaction.

He points out that after the war ended, he returned to his family's home in the city of Ramadi in Anbar Governorate (western Iraq) and lived a normal life without anyone knowing him, until his picture spread.

Painful day

In turn, the journalist and photographer Ammar Muhammad Al-Azzawi (Seddik Furat), describes what happened in the capital on the day of the invasion as "painful."

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Azzawi explains, "I was working for Baghdad International TV, the former Iraqi satellite channel, before the US invasion, as a television cameraman, as we covered the situation before the invasion from conferences and daily reports."

He continues, "With the outbreak of the war, we were divided as journalists into groups, and distributed between Baghdad and the southern provinces, because the expected American entry was from Basra through Kuwait, and they crawled towards Baghdad, and we were working on video reports about the fighting between the two parties, but the surprise was the landing of the American Marines. In Salhiya, central Baghdad, near the Ministry of Information and its control.

Al-Azzawi recalls the day when the former Minister of Information Muhammad Saeed Al-Sahaf came to them in a taxi, and with him was Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, the late Vice President Saddam Hussein. Turn off the transmitters, go home."