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| How the U.S. Army Sees The Arabs, Islam, and Middle Eastern Societies |
| 2012-03-06 |
| What do you tell soldiers who are risking their lives on Middle East battlefields about the people they are fighting for and against simultaneously? That's a tough task. And now we have a fascinating picture of how it's done. "Arab Cultural Awareness" is a 73-page text by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. It's easy to make fun of some things in it. Yet how can one briefly explain a complex, different society riddled with exceptions to soldiers who have other concerns, little knowledge, and no experience with it? Remember, we're talking about a text whose first section is, "Where is the Arab World?" followed by "What is an Arab?" I think they did a conscientious and honorable job, avoiding prejudice without generally creating a fantasy image, and doing a reasonable job of explaining Islam and social customs. But here's what makes this text especially interesting to me: It was published in January 2006, after September 11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan made this information vital but before hard-core "Political Correctness" set in to freeze American brains. I'm certain this book couldn't be written today because it is too honest. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 What is an Arab warrior? A man from a culture that considers themselves tone great warriors yet prize sneak hit and run tactics and sneaky stuff. A man from a culture whose greatest warrior (Saladin) was actually a Kurd. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2012-03-06 21:52 |