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U.S. War Commander Briefs Bush on Iraq
The top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq briefed President Bush on the war from inside one of Saddam Hussein's ornate palaces on Wednesday, underscoring the death of the old regime. Gen. Tommy Franks, in command of more than 200,000 troops in the war zone, lit up a cigar as he toured the palace just outside Baghdad that had been part of Saddam's realm. Franks and other senior officers sat in plush green chairs with gold, wood trim for the briefing with Bush in Washington, held over a secure videoconference linkup. Earlier, the four-star general viewed, with evident disgust, gold sink fixtures, a gold toilet paper dispenser and a toilet bowl brush inside one of the bathrooms. Almost as tacky as Saddam's love nest! ``It's the oil for palaces program,'' he said, a biting reference to the U.N. program that allowed Iraqi oil exports on condition that the proceeds went to food for civilians. Franks' visit to Baghdad, from his command headquarters in Qatar, came less than two weeks after Army tanks first rumbled through the capital and one week after Iraqis, aided by Marines, toppled a statue of Saddam in a downtown city square, signaling the end of his regime. Just had to get Franks' quote in there: Oil for Palaces sums it up pretty well, eh? Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-17 |
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