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Bathroom’s Messy, So Iraqi Governor Gets Swept Out

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Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein isn’t above airing a little dirty laundry in an effort to clean up his government. While on a visit to the district governor of Darbandikhan, 180 miles northeast of Baghdad, Hussein was shocked at finding a filthy bathroom and linens in the governor’s office and promptly fired him. “If the governor himself is not clean and tidy, how will we manage to raise the standard of our people?” Hussein said on television as he inspected the official quarters of Mustafa Fatah. Television viewers heard Hussein angrily rebuke Fatah over the facility’s untidy state and dirty towels, and heard him declare that the government would fire any governor who failed to look after his district’s hygiene. A decree was later issued by the ruling Revolutionary Command Council confirming Fatah’s early retirement and demotion to a lower grade pension.

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