During the 1980s Saddam committed money from oil revenues to build many over-the-top monuments around Baghdad. The most famous is the now toppled statue of Saddam (it’s pretty hard to spot from the satellite photo) but most of the other monuments are still standing and make much better “top-down” viewing.

The Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Baghdad was dedicated to Iraqis lost in the Iran-Iraq war and supposedly represents a shield falling from the hands of a dying warrior. During the US occupation this was central to the “Green Zone” and used as the army headquarters.

To the west of the monument are the parade grounds. Each end of the parade grounds is marked by gigantic replicas of Saddam’s arms holding swords, constructed partially from the melted down rifles of dead soldiers. Although most would agree that Iraq lost the war with Iran the hands were built to commemorate Iraq’s supposed victory.

The Shaheed Monument was built to commemorate Iraqi soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war. The two large blue domes sit in the middle of an artificial lake, with an eternal flame at the centre.

Thanks: Matt, Doug, Keith T., Daniel, Todd Day, Sayf Sharif, Hans Masing, Sig

In the waters of Shatt al-Arab in Basrah, Iraq, lie the wrecks of several ships, some just lying there floating on their sides, others half-submerged and seemingly covered in rust (or perhaps it’s actually damage from explosions?)

They look like oil tankers (at least I don’t think they look like military craft) but I guess that these shipwrecks are a litle different to the ones we usually post. However, they’re still fascinating to look at from up here.

There’s actually loads of these ships lying around in varying states of decay. In fact it’s all a bit creepy…

Thanks to Serge Lyubomudrov, Ian Luria and James.

Another landing strip in Iraq which, like most of them, has been made unusable by placing sandbags at regular intervals along the runways. But who’s that dead body on the runway?

Here at GSS we get a lot of submissions of clouds, but they are mostly pretty unexciting. That said, I really like this shadow formed by a cloud over Munich Airport. Can you (like me) see the footballer, facing east, about to kick the ball? Or, (like submitter Sebas) do you see a traveller, walking east, carrying a handbag in his right hand?

Thanks: Mark Huijser & Sebas

There’s something very odd going on at this air base in Eastern Iraq. Quite apart from the aircraft parked on the runways, there’s some serious image misalignment, and what on earth is going on with the colours?

Thanks to Marc Armstrong

An incredible image here of burning oil fields in Iraq, just north of Basra. Zoom out to see how far the plumes of smoke have travelled, and zoom in to see how huge the fires are.

Thanks to Sean, Jason Thompson, Adam Parker, Yablo and others.