Top U.S. official in Iraq misses taste of the ValleyRIO GRANDE CITY — Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez is really missing his mom’s tamales. While his mother is sitting down today with his brothers and sisters for Christmas dinner, the top U.S. commander in Iraq is battling insurgents in a country brutalized for decades by Saddam Hussein.
However, the general, who was born and raised in Rio Grande City, on Tuesday evening said there is still room for celebration. “We have a whole bunch of entertainers that are visiting us,” Sanchez said from Iraq during a telephone interview with The Monitor. “David Letterman and a bunch of others across the whole country are performing for soldiers, airmen, Marines,” he said. “And of course we have the normal Christmas concert, and the religious aspects with the chaplains.”
But Sanchez’s wife and four children cannot be there with him this Christmas, so it’s just not the same, he said. He especially misses the Christmas traditions his family has established over the years. “Last night I was talking to my wife and she said, ‘It’s not Christmas because Dad is not home cooking,’” he said with a laugh. “I make pan de polvo. My mother-in-law taught me how to bake it.” The general’s wife and their two sons live in Germany, and his two daughters live in other parts of Texas.
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