Interesting article and photo - Iraq

[Neecy]

First, there's an article in the SF Chronicle today about a pretty extraordinary young woman serving in Iraq:

In the two years that Ikram has been a part of the 82nd Airborne Division 3rd Brigade Combat Team, she has risen from the rank of truck driver to linguist, translating between Arabic and English - two of the five languages she speaks.

She and her brothers were born in Morocco, and moved with their mother to San Francisco in 2004. She learned English in a year and enrolled at UC Davis, leaving in her freshman year for the military.

She was attracted to the signing bonus, the opportunity to learn how to jump out of planes, and the chance to use her language skills.

As one of the few female U.S. Army linguists in eastern Baghdad, she is a role model for Iraqi children who are amazed to see a female soldier, much less one who can speak their language.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/25/MNTT1B7N57.DTL&tsp=1


But here's a photo that accompanies the article, in which the children don't seem all that amazed:



One woman is returning the smile, one child is looking at her (not in amazement) but everyone else is averting their eyes. The older woman to the left seems to be holding one of the children in a protective way. I looked at this photo for a long time and to get this kind of reaction to a smiling, apparently kind person who is fluent in their language just says how unwelcome our continued presence is in Iraq. It's time to go. Yesterday. We can't put Iraq aside and focus only on the escalation in Afghanistan - we need to continue to press for withdrawal from Iraq.

[NJmaverick]

1. Thanks for sharing this inspiring story

:hi:

[Schema Thing]

2. great picture

but you are projecting the hell out of it.

[rgbecker]

3. Here's my take....

Everyone is looking at something Ikram, the soldier, gave the little girl up front. The young lady looking at Ikram is thinking, "why is this women dressed like this?" There are a couple curious girls in the group to the left, but like the women, are very skeptical.
I'm guessing Ikram will be able to obtain US citizenship on the fast track because of her service. This provision has been very popular with immigrants over the years.
When I was in, there wasn't a "rank" of truck driver.