US Army calls a US Lt Col. the mayor of an Iraqi town.

[Oreo]

The article calls it a forward operating base which used to be an area for Iraqi gov't elite. The "town" is populated by US and Iraqi troops.
Do they have to call him the mayor though? Isn't that sending the wrong message? I thought the Iraqis were supposed to be governing their country now?

From today's Mpls Star Tribune.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/5332262.html
Meet Taji's mayor: Monnesota's Lt. Col. Kevin Gerdes
Mark Brunswick, Star Tribune
April 6, 2005

FORWARD OPERATING BASE TAJI, IRAQ -- Take a drive with the mayor of this town and you'll see the usual things that make up a community of 25,000 people.

A new fire station is going up. Land is being leveled for an industrial park. The two cement plants seem to be cranking at full capacity. And the new solid waste treatment plant is struggling through its shakedown phase.

But Kevin Gerdes, the mayor of Taji, has opportunities and challenges you won't find in a typical U.S. city. Not every town can boast a museum of Saddam Hussein memorabilia. Any other city of this size is not likely to face the constant threat of mortar attacks from the neighboring village, or have row after row of rusting Russian tanks lining one side of a major road and unexploded mines lining the other side.
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[SouthernDem2004]

1. Read the article, its not a town. It is a military base and the title is a

joke.