http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20031224/ap_on_en_tv/iraq_david_letterman_4Letterman Visits U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad
Wed Dec 24, 3:35 PM ET Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Joking with wounded soldiers and rattling off a `Top 10' list for the desert-weary, talk show host David Letterman dropped in Wednesday for a Christmas Eve visit with U.S. troops in Baghdad.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: David Letterman
Letterman, the host of CBS' "Late Show," visited the military's main combat hospital and met soldiers at one of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s ransacked palaces that now serves as part of the U.S.-led coalition's headquarters.
Soldiers said the visit was an important boost over the holiday spent far from home.
Arriving at the hospital, Letterman emerged from a car wearing dark sunglasses, smoking a cigarette, holding a cup of coffee and casually taking a phone call.
Snapping a picture, 1st Lt. Michael Gerstmyer, 24, from Baltimore said he was surprised at how relaxed the TV star appeared in a battle zone.
"He acts like he's been here for years," Gerstmyer said.
Last Christmas, Letterman visited troops in Afghanistan (news - web sites).
Letterman — who brought along his comedy sidekick Biff Henderson and the show's musician, Paul Schaffer — toured the hospital and stopped at the bed of Pfc. Jacob Dominique, 20, of Archbold, Ohio. "We took his appendix," a nurse said.
Letterman's reply — "I saw it downstairs in the gift shop" — won a roomful of laughs.
In a routine that Letterman is famous for on the show, he read out a "top 10" list written especially for the soldiers: the top 10 signs you've been in Iraq (news - web sites) too long.
"No. 9: you've heard a crazy rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger (news) is the governor of California," Letterman said.
Number two was, "Camel: it tastes like chicken."
Number one was aimed at the soldiers running the hospital: "And the No. 1 sign you've been in Iraq too long: Dave's heard about our outstanding health care and came to us for his hemorrhoids," Letterman said to loud applause.
