(no subject)

[theweaselking]

"A GI's Guide To Iraq"

Impressively ignorant and offensive, even for official US government paperwork.

EDIT: mhoye brings me a full PDF of the one from 1943

Comments

Compare And Contrast

[mhoye.livejournal.com]

As compared to this one from World War 2, which is a pretty good read.

Re: Compare And Contrast

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's awesome.

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

Um...a lot of that is fairly accurate. The tone is horrid but the basic facts are there.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

The target audience is not necessarily well-educated or accustomed to interacting with people from different cultures; the military is nothing if not pragmatic.

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

Pragmatism is our God.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Halle-fucken-lujah and Amen.

The idea that Arabs are "different" in that they don't want to accept responsibility in case something goes wrong later clearly comes from someone who's never worked in an American corporate office.






(Yes, I am catching up on theweaselking's blog after ages of being away from LJ. Yes, this is why I'm responding to ancient posts, all at once. And yes, it is coincidence that I'm responding to so many of yours, and no, I'm not an ex of yours, I just sound like it when I argue sometimes. Why do you ask?)

[atlasimpure.livejournal.com]

American avoidance of responsibility is both notorious and legion but the intensity of avoidance in the Middle East is a step above.

This being a US report, there's a bit of pot/kettle going on but again the basic facts are in line with my own experiences in the region as well as explanations given to me by ethnic Arabs.

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

It sounds pretty accurate, actually.

"Don't convert them to your religion." Some people need to be told this.

I also like the line about reluctance to accept responsibility, in case something goes wrong later. Urr, that's true for everybody, not just Arabs. I'm glad that line's there, though, because I don't think everyone understands Actor/Observer difference (http://www.disenchanted.com/dis/lookup.html?node=1858).