NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 |
April 22, 2003
Release Number: 03-04-168
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POOL REPORT OF MR. GARNER'S TRIP TO BAGHDAD - DAY 2
GARNER POOL COPY, FROM LONDON TIMES AND USA TODAY
After spending the night at Saddam's moated Qasr al Faw palace west of Baghdad the Garner party left at 0530 (Iraqi time) in a convoy of Humvees and station wagons to Saddam International Airport.
There they boarded a US military Hercules for an hour long flight north, some of the party sleeping beneath a large Stars and Stripes flag, their luggage stacked in the aisle.
General Garner greeted many of the party individually. He mentioned his home in Orlando, Florida and his childhood home in Arcadia, Fla. Wheels up at 6:47 a.m. Once the plane took off, Garner closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest for a nap.
Toward the end of the flight, Garner went to the rear of the plane where he spoke to members of the crew and looked out the window. He invited several reporters to join him in the window to take in the view.
''Beautiful area. You'll like it,'' he said as the plane approached Erbil over whitecapped mountains. ''The Kurds are just great people.''
At 8.30am they offloaded into two US MH-53M Pavelow helicopters, low over green fields, streams and ravines. Side and rear machine gunners scanned the horizon as the pilots banked sharply, flying as low as 50ft and narrowly clearing electricity pylons. Shepherds waved as the helicopters passed.
On arrival in Sulaimaniyah Garner was first met by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Prime Minister Barham Salih then its President Jalal Talabani. They exchanged shouted pleasantries over the noise of helicopter rotors, Mr Talabani telling Garner: "You should retire here."
"What you've done up here, this is going to be a model for the whole country,'' Garner told Salih.
The route was lined with red beret PUK troops and the convoy sped to Sulamaniyah escorted by Toyota pickup trucks fitted with heavy machine guns and filled with peshmerga carrying Kalashnikovs.
Garner was also met by Juliet Wurr of the US State Department, an aide to ORHA's northern head, retired Major General Bruce Moore.
In contrast to Baghdad, where the welcome was polite, he was greeted with genuine warmth in Sulaimaniyah. Locals lined the streets and cheered the arrival of the man they remember from 1991.
Then, as commanding general of Joint Task Force BRAVO in Northern Iraq he was in charge of Operation Provide Comfort, providing food and shelter to thousands of Kurdish refugees.
Twelve years later, four pictures drawn by one Kurdish child and given to him then still hang in his home.
Garner's first stop was at the University of Sulaimaniyah, where he arrived at 1015am to be greeted by hundreds of cheering students and a host of Kurdish media.
He was taken to a lecture theatre adorned with the banner 'Dewocracy (sic), Federalism within United Iraq is the Dream of the Intellectuals in Kurdistan'. One official said: "The city of bravery and sacrifice welcomes you."
Ascending the stage to sit alongside a lineup of local dignitaries he suddenly abandoned the table and walked to the front of the stage, microphone in hand.
"Thank you so very much for this gracious welcome. This day for me is like returning home," he said, to loud cheers. One young man shouted, ''You are welcome.''
He then spoke through an interpreter of his experiences in Baghdad the day before, when he visited a hospital, sewage plant and power plant.
"Yesterday I was in Baghdad and I went to the hospital that had five kidney patients that could only be cared for for two hours each day. Then last night I walked into one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and I looked at the grandeur and the wealth of that place and I got sick because none of that was ever shared with the people.
"What you have done here in the last 12 years is marvellous and it is a wonderful start to self government and democracy, and what you have done here can serve as a model for the rest of Iraq.
"Iraq is one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East yet the wealth of Iraq has never been shared with the people of Iraq. We have together this small moment of time to begin a process of democratic government throughout Iraq that will take the wonders of Iraq and the wealth of Iraq and get it to the people.
"You are the youth of Iraq
"You are going to lead Iraq
"You will govern new Iraq.
"You will raise your children in new Iraq and you will give birth to new Iraq.
"The day I left 12 years ago a young boy 10 years old ran out of the crowd and handed me a folder with four pictures. In this were four pictures that he had drawn very well of Kurdish children being happy. And these pictures meant to me that together we the coalition and the Kurdish people had made a happy environment. I framed those four pictures and they are in my home and I look at them every day.
"When Secretary Rumsfeld called me and asked me to take this job the reason I took this job is that together we can make those four pictures real for the children of all of Iraq.
"My message to you is simple. We are here to assist you but you are her to lead this country, you are here to govern this country, to rule this country and you are going to make this country successful and I know you can do it because I believe in you.
"So let's take the spirit of free people that we have here up in the Kurdish provinces and spread that to the rest of Iraq. God bless you and thank you so much."
Asked for his reaction Bakhtiyar Ali, 26, a student, said: "He is a great man. He will be a suitable man because he likes the Kurdish people."
He and his group of friends agreed that they welcomed the arrival of the Americans.
"We have been freed from the dictator's regime in Iraq but we hope they will leave Iraq soon."
In this he was backed by Ali, a driver, who made the thumbs up sign when asked about Garner, and said: "Thanks to everybody for ridding us of Saddam. I hope they stay as long as necessary and until the country is stable, but not for occupation."
Garner then went to visit a school activities centre where he saw hundreds of pictures painted by children. Young girls in traditional Kurdish costume and make up lined the route - although those questioned by journalists did not who he was. He was repeatedly handed flowers and some young girls tossed rose petals. A teacher prompted the children to say, ''Welcome, welcome.''
Leaving the centre after a ten minute tour by teachers and officials Garner stopped in the courtyard and smiled at the children, raised his arms and
said: "Hooah, hooah".
More to come.
STEPHEN FARRELL, LONDON TIMES
DONNA LEINWAND, USA TODAY
MORE REUTERS POOL NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENT MONA MEGALLI:
In Sulimainiya:
At university: students gave him flowers, some showered him with petals.
At another place Garner visited an exhibition of children's paintings. Children in traditional dress gave him flowers and he stood before them teaching them the thumbs up sign.
Then went to Dukan, 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Sulimainiya:
Met Jalal Talabani at lakeside chalet, with a red tiled, gabled roof, overlooking Lake Dukan. Picturesque setting. Bare rocky mountains, blue lake, trees on lower slopes, red poppies.
Talabani had own security guards in uniform around chalet. Some have black kerchiefs round bottom half of face. Garner has armed U.S. special forces to protect him.
Garner is accompanied by Bruce Moore, the U.S. civilian coordinator for northern Iraq.
PUK and U.S. officials said KDP leader Massoud Barzani was expected to join them later for three-way talks at Dukan today.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
