Mix of 'President . . . and Pope'
Army Officer Given Reins to Remake Mosul
washingtonpost.com
MOSUL, Iraq -- Lifting off in a helicopter from the grounds of a Mosul palace that he has made his headquarters, Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus began a tour of all that he commands, a vast northern Iraqi kingdom of desert and wheat fields, military installations and Bedouin camps, where poetry and strife fill the smallest corners.
"Look at that -- gas trucks," said Petraeus, pointing out the window of his UH-60 Black Hawk as the journey progressed. A convoy was arriving from Turkey with U.S.-bought gasoline to help alleviate severe shortages here in Iraq's third-largest city. Farther along, he nodded toward combines harvesting wheat in the fields below. The agreement he brokered that sets grain prices for farmers and distributors was holding.
Escorted by two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, the Black Hawk skimmed low over sand on its way to Rubiyah, a dusty town on the Syrian border. In plumes of sand, the helicopters landed there and Petraeus, with a stroke of his pen, formally opened a border crossing that had been closed since the start of the war.
More than 1,000 tribal dignitaries sat in silence as he spoke at a feast that followed. He explained that another crossing would mean more money for all and cheaper chickens in Mosul because of competition. Ushered by sheiks in flowing white robes, he then moved to tables groaning under ceramic dishes; he tore off chunks of lamb with his hands and scooped up handfuls of rice.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Petraeus said later as he waved to the mob from his departing Black Hawk. "It's a combination of being the president and the pope."
[cont'd....] |
