The White House found itself at the centre of another public relations disaster yesterday
after a Pentagon official was seen coaching a group of handpicked US troops before a live
teleconference with President George Bush.
In a cringingly wooden exchange, the group of soldiers stationed in Saddam Hussein's home
town of Tikrit told the president exactly what he wanted to hear - that Iraqis were eager to
vote on a new constitution this weekend and the country's fledgling security forces were
ready to meet the challenge.
But before Mr Bush entered the room Alison Barber, a senior defence department official,
went through a list of topics the president would later ask them about. At her prompting,
the soldiers, who were displayed on a large video screen in a room of the Eisenhower
Building next to the White House, raised their hands when the topic they were to answer came
up.
At one point, she said, Mr Bush would ask them specifically, "In the last 10 months, what
kind of progress have we seen?" before asking who was prepared to answer the question.
"Master Sgt Lombardo," one of the soldiers replied...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1592179,00.html
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