There is an important cultural issue to learn from this Iraq piece in today’s Washington Post. The article is about some reluctance in the U.S. military to launch a Fallujah like attack on Sadr City.
But the really good stuff is in the very last paragraph:
Col. Hamoud, a police liaison who has lived in Sadr City for 19 years and spoke on condition his full name not be used, said residents welcome aid from the United States brought peacefully, but warned that if U.S. troops use force, they will meet opposition.
"If they put their boots on people’s heads," he said, referring to a highly insulting gesture in Iraqi culture, "there will be fighting."
Wow – who would have known? It’s highly insulting to Iraqis when you put boots on their heads?
The average reader would certainly have expected otherwise. Thank you Washington Post for letting us know. How alien these Iraqis are – funny little weirdos – ain’t they?
How about other issues? Like when you pee into someones tea is that an insult in Iraqi culture?
Maybe one can ask the writer of the piece, Ann Tyson. She seems to know a lot about the special features of Iraqi culture.
But don’t step on her head. She’s in Iraq, and there such is a highly insulting gesture.