U.S. Administrator Eager to Begin Iraq Transition
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The retired U.S. general charged with heading an interim administration in post-war Iraq (news - web sites) expressed concern over what he described as the slow start of the transition effort in an interview published on Tuesday.
"Actually, I wish I had been in Baghdad a week ago," Lt. Gen. Jay Garner said in an interview with USA Today in Kuwait City. He told the newspaper that he hopes to be in the Iraqi capital this week.
"My fear right now is every day we delay we're probably losing some momentum, and there's perhaps some vacuums in there getting filled that we won't want filled," Garner said in the interview.
Although the main fighting in the war apparently is over, Garner said most of his staff would remain in Kuwait until it is safe in Iraq.
"There are still a lot of pockets of resistance in Baghdad, so the (U.S.) commanders are a bit reluctant to let a bunch of civilians in there." But he said: "maybe we ought to take a little risk and get in there."
About 35 officials from Garner's Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance arrived in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr last Tuesday. Most of the rest of his team of more than 200 mostly U.S. officials remain at a base in Kuwait.
"By the end of April or beginning of May we will have cells down in every province" of Iraq, Garner said in the interview.
Garner was in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya on Tuesday to discuss post-war rule with Iraqi factions in what his spokesman said would be a "test case" for the planned U.S.-led administration that will rebuild Iraq and restore civil services for its 26 million people.
Mon Apr 14, 6:59 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comic Rodney Dangerfield (news) has been taken off a respirator following brain surgery and his first request to doctors was to tune in to talk show host Jerry Springer, Dangerfield's agent said on Monday.
Dangerfield, 81, underwent the risky procedure -- intended to improve the blood flow to his brain -- a week ago at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles as a prelude to a heart valve replacement scheduled for next week.
He spent the week following the surgery in an intensive care unit, and was "smiling and elated" to be breathing on his own, his publicist Kevin Sasaki said on Monday.
"His spirits are great. He is lucid and communicative ... and grinning from ear to ear," Sasaki said. The portly actor asked doctors to dial up "The Jerry (news - web sites) Springer Show" -- his favorite TV fare -- as soon as he was off the respirator, Sasaki said.
Since his surgery, Dangerfield has received good wishes from his own fans, including fellow comedians Jay Leno (news - Y! TV) and Jim Carrey (news), Sasaki said. Doctors expect to move Dangerfield to a private room by the end of the week, Sasaki said.
Dangerfield's latest film, a romantic comedy called "The Fourth Tenor," was released on video the same day he went into the hospital.
He also is working on his autobiography, tentatively titled "Rodney Exposed."