Army to return Saddam palace complex to Iraq

[DoYouEverWonder]

10/5/2005

TIKRIT, Iraq — The U.S. Army is returning Saddam Hussein's most elaborate presidential complex, a sprawling network of 136 buildings overlooking the Tigris River here, to Iraq's government.

It is the largest transfer yet in a delayed effort to reduce the profile of U.S. forces by moving them out of Saddam's palaces and former government buildings.

"It belongs to the nation, and it belongs to the people of Tikrit," said Iraqi Col. Hammed al-Jubori, whose troops train on an island that's part of the massive compound in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

U.S. forces occupied palaces and other Saddam regime compounds after the invasion in spring 2003. Last year, Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. military commander in the region, told subordinates to start returning the palaces because the presence of American troops on symbolically important sites was an irritant to the Iraqi people.

The U.S. military has returned to Iraq more than two dozen bases, including a few minor palaces. U.S. forces occupy about 110 bases.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-10-05-saddam-palace_x.htm?csp=34


Gee aren't we nice. We're going to give back to Iraq places that were theirs to begin with. How much longer before we decide to give them back the Green Zone too?

[xultar]

1. I love it we come in and move right into the palaces we said indicate

there needs to be a regime change. :rofl:

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. What I don't understand

is after almost a decade of regular bombing missions, why were so many of Saddam's palace still standing? Especially after all the reports that these were the places that Saddam was hiding his WMD's and WMD programs. Seems we didn't want to mess up too much of the infrastructure that we had our eyes on for when we invaded?

[xultar]

4. Ahhh Hello! Anyone read the post above! You hit the nail on the head!

[enigma000]

5. I don't think the US and British were bombing in cities

They bombed mostly military targets and not government buildings in urban centres. With the notable exception of Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.

http://www.historyguy.com/no-fly_zone_war.html

http://www.transnational.org/forum/power/2000/07IraqBombing.html

[0007]

3. I guess the US is ready to move into some of those billion

dollar military installations they've been building for the last three years.

[Barrett808]

6. The withdrawal continues apace

Najaf, Kerbala, Baghdad itself, now Saddam's home palace...

[Javaman]

7. "here are the keys, have fun!"

This is like giving a blind man keys to a car that only goes forward and is facing a brick wall.

colossal racist paranoid failure*.

[booksenkatz]

8. Mighty big of us. nt