From 'Gooks' to 'Hajis'

[CHIMO]

There is an inescapable comparison of Iraq to Vietnam. It has been two years now since the first signs became evident that the US occupation of Iraq would become a bloody fiasco.

On 26 May 2003 the White House announced that the interim military Governor of Iraq Jay Garner was to be replaced with Ambassador Paul Bremer.

At this juncture, the frenzy of widespread post-invasion looting had petered out to a state of violent anarchy, and three weeks earlier, President George Bush had declared “mission accomplished” aboard the aircraft carrier USS “Abraham Lincoln”.

Already one can hear exasperated US generals wondering aloud, "Why can't our Hajis fight like their Hajis?"

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/43D3E523-32DE-4B84-A6BA-D8C4A90D6DBE.htm

[unhappycamper]

1. Viet Nam = Iraq, gooks = hajis

Sure sounds familiar. Scott Taylor nailed this story.

[MADem]

6. And didn't these two paragraphs speak VOLUMES!

The open collusion between many of the police units and the insurgents is widely known to US soldiers on the ground, and for that reason the security forces are not equipped with night vision goggles, armoured vehicles or heavy weaponry.

Nevertheless, the Pentagon continues to pin its hopes on a Vietnam-style “peace with honour” pullout based on its ability to build an Iraqi army by Christmas.

Pottery Barn, anyone? We'll be happlessly gluing together shards for decades if we stick there....

[pocket]

2. technically, a Haji

is anyone who has made the Haj, or pilgrimage. They are turning an honorific into a slur.

[MADem]

4. And that makes it doubly offensive

It really is a shitty thing to do. It used to be, if you were buying some crap in the bazaar, you addressed the seller as Hajjii and you got a better discount in the bargaining. It was a polite way to greet your neighbor that you didn't know too well. It basically is a way of saying, gee, you must be a fine upstanding guy, therefore you must have made at least one Hajj in your life. It also was a nice way to address an old guy, even if he never got more than ten miles outside his hometown....made him feel good.

Through ignorance and lack of care, our folks are turning it into a smarmy remark without the original grace behind the word. I'm sickened by the way they toss it about. It doesn't help us at all.

[Igel]

11. Taylor doesn't say he's heard anybody in the military say it.

He may have; but as far as I can tell, if it's a shitty thing to do, it's Taylor's own shittiness. (Taylor's the author of the article.)

[TexMexTex]

3. I believe

"hajji" is a traditional term referring to anyone who makes a pilgrimage to Mecca. I don't think it's seen as a slur.

[MADem]

5. It means PILGRIM

...but the way our forces toss it about, it is apparent to anyone over that way that they are misusing the word. They know the diff.

[pocket]

7. sort of like 'yankee'

It means something to the locals, but is a blanket term when used by foreigners.

[kingfisherbeer]

10. Hmmm...

I believe this term comes from the Johnny Quest character Hadji..

[MasonJar]

8. If you have not read Kite Runner, read it. It is one phenomenal

piece of literature; story of two young men growing up in Afghanistan. Powerful! Cathartic! Beautifully evocative!

[TexMexTex]

9. I've read Kite Runner

and thought it was a great book... but, I don't think the term "hajji" is mentioned once in it.. what's your point?

[teryang]

12. Gook a derogatory term revealing the users' ignorance

The term was popularized in Vietnam by Korean veterans. It means country. Mi Gook means beautiful country or America. The expression was misunderstood by GIs who began to address Koreans as Gooks.