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Lambert's claim that some Iraqis wanted to pull down the statue is corroborated to some extent by Kadhim Sharif Hassan al-Jabouri, a local mechanic. Kadhim claimed that he had once fixed motorcycles for Saddam and his son Uday, but there had been a dispute over money. Uday had him thrown in prison. "Fourteen or 15 people in my own family were executed by Saddam," Kadhim told the BBC. When he heard American forces were coming, he was happy. He says he took his sledgehammer and left his nearby garage to go to Firdos Square.
蘭伯特稱一些伊拉克人想要推倒這座雕像，并在一定程度上得到了當地機械師卡迪姆·謝里夫·哈桑·賈卜利的證實。卡迪姆稱他曾為薩達姆和他的兒子烏代修理過摩托車，但在錢的問題上有過爭執，烏代把他關進了監獄。卡迪姆告訴BBC：“我家里有14或15個人被薩達姆處決了。”當他聽到美國軍隊要來的時候他很高興。他說，他拿著大錘離開附近的車庫，去了佛多斯廣場。
Lambert asked Lewis: "If a sledgehammer and rope fell off the 88, would you mind?"
蘭伯特問劉易斯：“如果有大錘和繩子從88裝甲車上掉下來，你會介意嗎？”
"I wouldn't mind," Lewis replied. "But don't use the 88."
“我不介意，”劉易斯回答。“但別用88裝甲車。”
Lambert says he gave the Iraqis his sledgehammer, though Kadhim claims to have brought his own. It is unclear, then, whether the idea to attack the statue came from a relatively low-ranking US soldier, from an Iraqi civilian, or from both.
蘭伯特說他把自己的大錘給了伊拉克人，盡管卡迪姆聲稱自己也帶了。目前尚不清楚襲擊這座雕像的想法是來自一個級別相對較低的美國士兵，還是來自一個伊拉克平民，還是兩者兼而有之。
Kadhim began to hammer at the statue, but all he could really do was get a couple of plaques off the base. Lambert's rope was thrown around the statue's neck. There was little chance of this small crowd toppling such a large bronze. An hour went by.
卡迪姆開始錘打雕像，但他所能做的只是從底座上弄下幾塊飾板。蘭伯特將繩子套在了雕像的脖子上。這一小群人幾乎不可能推倒這么大的青銅雕像。一個小時過去了。
Saddam was not budging. "We watched them with the rope, and I knew that was never going to happen," Lambert told journalist Peter Maass, who wrote a detailed investigation of the felling of the statue in 2011. "They were never going to get it down."
薩達姆的雕像并未移動。蘭伯特告訴記者彼得·馬斯：“我們看著他們用繩子，我知道不可能推倒。”馬斯在2011年寫了一份關于雕像倒塌的詳細調查報告。“他們永遠推不倒它。”
At this point, the handful of Iraqis having a go at the statue seemed inclined to give up and go home. Just then, McCoy came out of the hotel. "I realised this was a big deal," he said. "You've got all the press out there and everybody is liquored up on the moment. You have this Paris 1944 feel. I remember thinking, the media is watching the Iraqis trying to topple this icon of Saddam Hussein. Let's give them a hand."
在這一點上，少數一些想要參觀這座雕像的伊拉克人似乎傾向于放棄并回家。就在這時，麥考伊從旅館里出來了。“我意識到這是一件大事，”他說。“所有的媒體都在那里，那一刻大家都醉了，你會有1944年巴黎的感覺。我記得我當時想，媒體正看著伊拉克人試圖推倒薩達姆·侯賽因的偶像，讓我們為他們鼓掌。”
McCoy radioed a senior officer, who authorised him to involve troops directly in pulling down the statue. McCoy told his troops they could use the M-88 recovery vehicle after all, providing there were no fatalities.
麥考伊通過無線電聯系了一名高級軍官，后者授權他直接動用軍隊拆除雕像。麥考伊告訴他的部隊，只要沒有人員傷亡，他們還是可以使用M-88裝甲車。
