Rumsfeld avoids fury of homesick troops

IF they had the chance, US soldiers at a base in Iraq would have had one question for US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: ‘When are we going home?’

But he cancelled a speech he was due to give yesterday to them at their base at the palace of Saddam Hussein in his hometown of Tikrit.

“I don’t give a damn about Rumsfeld. All I give a damn about is going home,” specialist Rue Gretton said, humping packs of water bottles on his shoulders from a truck.