When the Going Gets Tough, The Iraqi Toughs Go Swimming…

This just in, courtesy of News24:

Saddam Tells Troops To Swim

Baghdad—President Saddam Hussein has ordered Iraqi troops to go swimming as they wait for the long-threatened US attack, Iraqi newspapers said on Thursday.

Regular swimming would improve their physical condition ready for the fight ahead, said Saddam, who is noted as a keen amateur swimmer himself.

"Don't forget swimming," the president told a meeting of army officers and lower ranks, according to the reports.

A post-Dan Rather-interview America is left to wonder: Why didn't Saddam challenge George W. Bush to a swimming race?

And, no doubt, Iraqi military men are wondering when Saddam is going to start screaming, a la Bogart in The Caine Mutiny, about his frozen strawberries?

Then again, that might be a relief from the way he's been conducting performance reviews for decades.