U.S. Troops Order Comfort, With Fries on the Side .....Iraq's First Burger King

Washington Post ^ | Sunday, October 19, 2003; Page A25 | By Theola Labbé

[.cnI redruM]

BAGHDAD -- Welcome to Iraq, home of the Whopper. Deep inside Baghdad International Airport, past a vehicle search, a body search and four checkpoints, soldiers are lined up for burgers and fries. They have come by plane from Mosul, 220 miles north, for onion rings.

They have picked up Chicken Royale sandwiches while picking up buddies flying back from a two-week home leave. They have begged and borrowed Humvees, making up any excuse for a trip to the airport and a reminder of what the pink mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise oozing from a fresh Whopper tastes like. "It tastes like home, yes it does," said Staff Sgt. Mark Williams, 50, from Pittsburgh, after tearing off a chunk of his Whopper with cheese.

[.cnI redruM]

You know there's no going back when BK and Mickey D's start their invasion. They are the ultimate American occupation force.

[dwilli]

Need to get a McDonalds into the neighborhoods that are terrorist infected.

A few McGriddles a week will thin out the herd. It's lethal.

[July 4th]

They are the ultimate American occupation force.

I think that's a completely accurate statement, and one that I have no problem agreeing with. Once the McDonalds are in, we can claim total victory.

[ErnBatavia]

But if you want a stampede:

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[FairOpinion]

ping

[July 4th]

Note this from the full article:

On lunch break, Ricky Hernandez, 29, a worker from the Philippines, ate a chicken sandwich inside one of the air-conditioned mobile units.

When I saw the name, my first though was, "Hey, just like home. Mexicans working the counters."

[FairOpinion]

Capitalism is taking hold, slowly but surely. :)

[Tall_Texan]

Our brave troops have to suffer through so much carnage, live bullets, bombs, etc.

Why expose them to Iraqi french fries as well?

[CheneyChick]

What's next?

Krispy Kreme?

[.cnI redruM]

That would Freedom Fries over in Iraq. I'm sure some crusty battle-axe of a command Sargeant Major would have taken his pound of flesh if french fries had been sighted anywhere near his AO.

[.cnI redruM]

Doughnut glaze tends to fare poorly in 135 degree weather, but I'm sure a Starbucks could make a good go of it over there.

[Lurker]

I've got the In N Out Urge.

L

[amom]

LOL thanks for the ping

[SamAdams76]

They are the ultimate American occupation force.

I bet not too many are aware that the Pentagon - as part of the "military-industrial complex" - devised the idea for a "McDonalds" franchise and that Roy Kroc was recruited as a special operative to put the scheme in place. The object of this experiment was to see if it was feasible to take the food supply out of the hands of individual farmers and put it into the hands of giant corporations. Entire new food products were to be devised by this experiment such as processed potato product, non-dairy dairy products (i.e. milkshakes), and pressed beef by-product (hamburgers). These food products would be sold at a very low price to the consumer but be made from low-cost ingredients and would carry high profit margins due to the economies of scale that would soon be required to supply a restaurant chain of this size.

The long-term goal of this experiment, of course, would be to indoctrinate Americans to a fast-food culture and then once they were addicted to the tasty foods, cheaper and inferior ingredients could then be substituted and the consumers - with taste buds no longer as sensitive - would scarcely know the difference. With this knowledge, the "fast-food" concept would be exported by our military to foreign population in order that they become less hungry and docile and thus pose less of a threat to U.S. security.

The success of this McDonalds chain surprised even those within the Pentagon and especially President Eisenhower who was said to be rather skeptical of this experiment from the get-go. The chain grew with such astonishing success that Eisenhower ordered the Interstate Highway Project to go forward so that these restaurants could be more efficiently supplied (and of course, the Interstate Highway Project created many potential new locations for McDonalds restaurants).

In the wake of the McDonalds success, the Pentagon decided to create additional fast-food outlets along these lines, so that the fast-food culture could further permeate American culture and be exported abroad at an even faster clip. Thus, other fast-food outlets were born such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (Colonel Sanders was a special operative who wanted something to do after his retirement from the Pentagon), Jack-in-the-Box, Arby's, Burger King, etc., etc. The project continues to be expanded to this day with recent additions such as Boston Market, Subway, Krispy Kreme and, in a nod to diversity, Taco Bell.

[4mycountry]

My mom and I tried some of those things. Mom liked them, but I got sick half-way through. I haven't been able to look at/smell/see/taste syrup or pancakes for a week now.

[Mears]

As far as I'm concerned the best thing we could do for Iraq is not allow any of the big chains in.

I miss my local donut shop and many of the restaurants that were in my area,I hate chains.

Sorry!

[AM2000]

funny

[Lokibob]

Shocking, shocking I say.

We let the Brits beat us to Iraq in the fast food front.

BK is owned by Grand Met, a British company.