Racial segregation in US Army is Back
"Has U.S. exported segregation to Iraq?"
If they did, it was only after they imported it from israel.
By Mike Drummond | McClatchy NewspapersFORWARD OPERATING BASE WARHORSE, Iraq — The sign taped to the men's latrine is just five lines:
"US It needed only one: "NO IRAQIS."MILITARY
CONTRACTORS
CIVILIANS
ONLY!!!!!"
Here at this searing, dusty U.S. military post about four miles west of Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same foot patrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must use segregated bathrooms.
Another sign, in a dining hall, warns Iraqis and "third-country nationals" that they have just one hour for breakfast, lunch or dinner. American troops get three hours.
Iraqis say they sometimes wait as long as 45 minutes in hot lines to get inside the chow hall, leaving just 15 minutes to get their food and eat it.
It has been nearly 60 years since President Harry Truman ended racial segregation in the U.S. military. But at Forward Operating Base Warhorse it's alive and well, perhaps the only U.S. military facility with such rules, Iraqi interpreters here say.
It's unclear precisely who ordered the rules.
"The rule separating local national latrines from soldiers was enacted about two to three rotations ago," Maj. Raul Marquez, a spokesman for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas, wrote in an e-mail. That was before his brigade or the 3rd Stryker Combat Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, the other major combat force here, was based at Warhorse.
There's also disagreement on the reason.
Marquez cited security. "We are at war, and operational security (OPSEC) and force protection are critical in this environment," Marquez wrote. "We screen all our local nationals working and living in the FOB, however, you can never know what's in their mind."
That's bullshit.
If you don't trust them to eat with you, how can you trust them to interpret intelligence???
Other soldiers traced the regulations to what they called cultural differences between the Iraqis and the Americans.
"We've had issues with locals," said Staff Sgt. Oscar Garcia, who mans Warhorse's administrative hub. "It's not because we're segregating."
Only an idiot would make that statement.
It's not because we're segregating ( - we're just segregating.)"
Garcia said some Iraqis squatted on the rims of unfamiliar American-style toilets or had used showers as toilets, forcing private contractors who maintain the facilities to clean up after them.
Typical racist zionist propaganda - dehumanize a population by alleging that they're filthy barbarians.
Funny thing is that the Quran requires Muslims to be pure and clean, both spiritually and physically - at all times.
Another soldier at the administrative hub who declined to give his name or rank cited conflicts over hygiene habits.
"We can't accept people washing their feet where I brush my teeth," he said.
"It's to keep problems from happening," said Army Capt. Janet Herrick, a public-affairs officer. "It's a preventive measure ... so no one gets belittled."
But the Iraqis who are paid $80,000 to $120,000 a year for their interpreting services are offended.
"It sucks," Ahmed Mohammed, 30, said of the latrine policy.
He called the signs — in English and Arabic — "racist."
He has worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military since 2004. He's college-educated and well-versed in the ways of Western plumbing. He said Warhorse was the only American base where he had encountered U.S.-only signs on latrines and country-of-origin restrictions on dining hours.
"I live in the same tent with 80 Americans," he said.
"On one hand we're asking Iraqis to help us," often at great risk, said Laila al-Qatami, spokeswoman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington. "But at the same time we're saying, 'We want to keep you at a distance.' It's a mixed message we're sending.
"I don't understand having separate bathrooms. It seems to go against everything that the United States stands for."
But, it goes hand in hand with everything that Zionism is about.
_______________
Thanks, David
We need to export this intelligent thinkng back to America.
I understand what you're saying.
You like the idea of seperate bathrooms and dining areas for Iraqis and Americans?
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"Money" has no value - people do.
From two weeks vacation traveling in main land britain, I could eat English food only the first three days! By the forth day we were gasping for chinese, indian, italian, whatever, but not english food. I had heard about bad food in britain, but not that bad. Baffled about it, later I found an interesting question for myself: Great Britain ruled for centuries over so many traditional countries (including those we took refuge in their restaurants) with great diet traditions. How on earth Brits did not learn much from them? After struggling for some time, I decided the reason must have been "pomposity". I bet brits now terribly regret for if they were just a tad less pompous and at least ate with those "locals", they could have learnt how to cook more dishes than just fish and chips today!
It's extraordinary, I know. Traditional english cooking is very simple : boil everything until mushy.
qrs wrote:
"I'm not sure
I understand what you're saying.
You like the idea of seperate bathrooms and dining areas for Iraqis and Americans?"
Honestly, I don't understand this article. It seems to be saying that the Iraqis and Americans live together, but can't eat or piss together. The hygiene is an understandable issue, but doesn't make sense for the eating. Unless they eat like slobs or something.
The person who wrote this obviously doesn't know the meaning of segregation. My point is that people should be allowed to run their affairs the way they want.
I originally thought that this was a ruse to keep the Iraqis and Americans separated, so that they would not get too friendly with each other and figure out that Zionists are playing them both. But it seems to say that they have other close, daily contact.
Somebody may want to turn this into a racial issue, when there are other explanations, like cultural differences. I certainly don't want to brush my teeth where somebody is washing their feet. But this might just be an excuse to keep Americans and Iraqis apart. Now that I can understand vis a vis the Zionists.