Yo, Coalition Troops! Iraq Culture Smart Card ... it's a start?

[ElectroPrincess]

IRAQ CULTURE SMART CARD

U.S. military personnel in Iraq are presented with a laminated card that summarizes the rudiments of Iraqi culture, as refracted through the understanding of the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity.

"The 16-panel, folded card includes information on religion, religious holidays, clothes and gestures, ethnic groups, cultural groups, customs and history, social structure and Arabic names. Also included are 'Do This' and 'Don't Do This', commands, numbers, questions, and helpful words and phrases."

A copy of the Iraq Culture Smart Card, newly updated in November 2004, is available here (in a very large 6.5 MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/iraqsmart-1104.pdf


An earlier edition from February 2004 may be found here (in a lower resolution 1.0 MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/iraqsmart-0204.pdf


The blog "Baghdad Dweller" last month reflected on the contents of a similar smart card that might be used to introduce American culture to a foreign visitor. See:

http://tinyurl.com/59pqs

The above blog suggested ONE very interesting question for us Americans to ponder:

What would a similar card look like for foreigners visiting the USA?

[dutchdoctor]

1. Cool! Look at the phrases on the card..

What would you expect? "How are you?" "Are you wounded?" "How can we compensate the loss of your home/father/car/security?"
Think again, this is what's on the card:

stop / awgaf
do not move / le tet-Harak
lower your hands / nezill eidayk
turn around / in-dar
drop your weapons / Dhib is-la-Hak
move / it-Ha-rak
hands up / irfaa eidayk
move slowly / it-Ha-rak aala kay-fak
come here / ta-aal hena
no talking / le teH-chi
walk forward / it-qa-dam li-gi-dam
surrender / sel-lim nefsek
come with me / ta-aal wi-ya-ya
calm down / aala kay-fek
do not resist / la it-qa-wem
form a line / awgaf bi-ss-ira
stay where you are / ib-qa makanak
one at a time / waHid waHid
speak slowly / iH-chee aala kayfak
lie on your stomach / in-baT-aH

But I thought Iraq was a safe place now with the elections over? Why would any soldier have to learn how to say "do not resist" or "lie on your stomach"?