A memorial to Operation Desert Storm, also known as the Gulf War, or First Iraq War in the United States, will be built on the National Mall in Washington, DC, after a federal commission ended a years-long debate.
The National Desert Storm Memorial will be located on the western part of the National Mall in downtown Washington, next to the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Military Times reports.
Not far from the chosen spot are memorials to several other wars the US has fought in, including the World War II Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial, both less than half a mile away.
The decision that settled the debate was made by the US Commision of Fine Arts, who had to review a plan already supported by the National Capital Planning Commission.
The National Desert Storm War Memorial Association, which is responsible for the planning and construction of the memorial, had a tough time convincing the authorities to chose this particular spot, arguing that placing the monument elsewhere would make it too hard to reach vis-a-vis the other war memorials. Earlier in March, the Capital Planning and Fine Arts commissions failed to come to an agreement, which is required for a monument to be given the green light.
”We felt like, if you have something that's the most beautiful memorial in the world, but it takes a lot of work for people to get there and people aren't going to visit, then it kind of defeats our…
