Petraeus, Troops Cheer Mortaritaville's Debut -- USO's First Iraq Facility

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
February 8, 2008 By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq – Gen. David Petraeus, a rangy left-hander, knocked in a nine-foot putt for a quadruple bogey yesterday on the third hole at the Mortaritaville Country Club.
The golf was virtual, part of a tour given to the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who came to cut a ribbon at the first USO in the country.
Petraeus seemed captivated with the computer-simulated golf game – despite his wobbly performance and his declaration that he would rather run on golf courses than play them. The general is a runner and fitness enthusiast.
Then Petraeus listened as USO president and CEO Ned Powell dedicated the facility to the U.S. forces.
“It is our commitment to you. We will be here as long as you are,” Powell said, under the nearly constant thrum of U.S. jets above.
The facility – which offers video games, Internet and computer services, and telephone exchanges – received the name Mortaritaville because the base has had a difficult history of coming under routine mortar and rocket fire from Sunni insurgents.
The Balad USO facility joins hundreds of others worldwide that have been established since United Service Organization began operating in 1941, shortly before the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II.
The private and nonprofit USO, which relies on donations, is probably best known for the celebrities it has brought to U.S. troops around the world for decades, from the smoky Marlene Dietrich to the gyrating Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Bob Hope made 60 USO tours, starting in 1948.
“We send 20-some tours a year to either Iraq or Afghanistan,” said John Hanson, a spokesman for USO at its Arlington, Va., headquarters. “Robin Williams, Kid Rock, Lewis Black and Lance Armstrong all went to Iraq in December.”
Petraeus had his own Hollywood moment. Before flying to Balad, he met in the Green Zone in Baghdad with actress Angelina Jolie, who visited the capital on a mission as a U.N. goodwill ambassador to highlight the plight of Iraqi refugees.
 
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