Similarly, the triumphal arches shaped as two pairs of crossed swords are made from the physical evidence of battle itself.

ECONOMIST: Monumental

Politicians of both major parties have an incredible need to spend taxpayer money to stamp their name on achievements, to build, literally or figuratively, triumphal arches confirming their own prestige.

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In order to ensure the message of his monuments is clearly absorbed, the government encourages ordinary Iraqis to spend time among them, locating an amusement park at the martyr's memorial and a theatre within the complex of the triumphal arches.

ECONOMIST: Monumental

Similarly, when the Sunni Muslim Mr Hussein inaugurated his triumphal arches, he rode through them on a white horse in self-conscious reference to the steed of Hussein, the Shia Muslim hero martyred at nearby Kerbala, without any apparent embarrassment at Mr Hussein's ongoing repression of his own Shia citizens.

ECONOMIST: Monumental