Topic: The Places
The U.S. government recently opened a recreation center inside the Green Zone. The complex, renamed the Liberty Pool, once served as Uday Hussein's playground.

Uday was nuts. Iraqi exiles say Uday murdered people at will and tortured with zeal. He routinely ordered his guards to snatch young women off the street so he could rape them. Uday had once been a strong candidate to succeed his father, but he felt out of favor when he killed one of Saddam's favorite bodyguards with a club and carving knife.

As Uday drove his red Porsche through Baghdad one day in 1996, assassins opened fire on him. The attack, allegedly organized by his younger brother Qusay, left Uday permanently crippled. From 1996 until his death during an American raid in 2004, Uday had to walk with a cane. Apparently, after the attack he also had trouble making love with women, which apparently only worsened his lust for violence against women.

After the assignation attempt in 1996, Saddam built a large pool complex to help Uday relax and recuperate. That pool is now the Liberty Pool, used by Americans living inside the Green Zone. Most people have no idea about the history surrounding the pool complex.

And in other news . . . Rummy got grilled the other day on the Hill.