- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Don't
ogle the women and watch what you do with your feet -- U.S. forces in Baghdad
have been issued with lists of "dos and don'ts" to navigate a
cultural minefield of Islamic sensitivities.
-
- In the U.S. Marine First Tank Battalion, crews rumbling
through the Iraqi capital have been told not to hang their feet off the
sides of their M-1A1 Main Battle Tanks to avoid causing offence to Arabs
by revealing the soles of their feet.
-
- Troops have been ordered not to wave with their left
hand -- which they were told was used for toilet purposes in Iraq -- though
some Marines with experience of Arab societies questioned that particular
piece of advice.
-
- Despite their fears of attack by assailants in civilian
clothes, Marines said they had learned at least to interact on a basic
level with the people they say they have come to liberate.
-
- "At first, entering a combat zone, Marines were
a little bit stand-offish, but then as they started to move through small
villages, they were more willing to let Iraqis come closer and talk to
them," said Sergeant Anthony Jefferies, 26, of the First Tank Battalion.
-
- "A lot of Marines are learning that the Arabs are
very affectionate people, they're not afraid to shake your hands and give
you a kiss on the cheek," he said, sitting under an awning next to
his tank parked in the city's eastern suburbs.
-
- "At first that's a little strange, American men
don't tend to kiss each other on the cheeks, unless they're drunk,"
Jefferies said.
-
- SPEAK ENGLISH, LOUD AND SLOW
-
- Suicide bombings and snipers have forced troops to remain
wary of residents, but on patrol many have attempted to chat with young
men approaching them with a stream of questions.
-
- Conversation is often limited. Marines said they had
been taught a few basic pleasantries in Arabic, as well as words like 'halt',
'put your hands up', and 'don't move'.
-
- Many struggled to pronounce them correctly.
-
- Very few Marines carry phrasebooks -- preferring to address
Arabic-speakers they meet in loud English, spoken slowly, with a liberal
dose of hand gestures.
-
- Tank battalion crews were given handbooks with useful
Arabic phrases including basic greetings and translations of words like
rocket launcher (manassit sawareekh), sniper (qunas) and, of course, tank
(dabaaba).
-
- Baghdad residents sell the Marines fresh bread wrapped
in paper and still warm from the oven -- a welcome change from pre-packaged
Meals Ready to Eat rations. Young men hawk packets of Dorchester cigarettes
to troops whose supplies have run low after weeks in the desert.
-
- Any vendors that wander too close to U.S. armored vehicles
parked in the city or defensive positions can expect to be shooed away,
but officers say they don't want Marines to be overly suspicious.
-
- There are signs of some attempts, too, to be sensitive
to historical sites that invaders find in their path.
-
- Lieutenant Colonel Jim Chartier, commanding officer of
the U.S. Marine First Tank Battalion, said he had ordered his crews to
move their tanks to a more respectful distance from the Martyrs' Monument
to Iraq's war dead.
-
- Drivers of "Humvee" all-terrain vehicles were
told to stop running them up and down steps near the landmark. Proper latrines
are planned to avoid too much damage to bushes by Marines based in a nearby
car park.
-
- "Look at this monument as their version of the Vietnam
Wall," Chartier told an officers' briefing on Friday. "It's got
to be honored and respected," he said, gesturing at the giant, azure
dome -- bisected into two halves.
-
- Cultural briefings were given while U.S. forces were
still in Kuwait, with troops being told not to stare at women -- who might
often be veiled due to cultural or religious beliefs.
-
- At least some of the "grunts" -- combat troops
whose average age is about 19 -- seemed to have disregarded the advice.
"Did you see the one with the blonde streaks in her hair?," said
one Marine, trooping through the affluent "Engineer's Town" suburb
in eastern Baghdad on a foot patrol. "She was hot!"
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