Get a Clue

'Sensitivity training' for U.S. troops in Iraq

"I am disturbed by a trend here that is occurring as we serve here in Iraq," one Army major told the premium online intelligence newsletter edited by the founder of WND. "I am a Christian and so are most soldiers here, as they would probably identify with that religion if not practice it."

He tells the story of one of his men, performing the duty of guarding civilian Iraqis working on a U.S. military base. When it was time for lunch, the soldier was told he could not eat because the Army wanted to be sensitive to the fasting Iraqis.

"I understand the concept," said the officer. "But isn't that forcing us to learn about Islam and even practice its principles? Who cares if Muslims want to fast. We don't force a guy not to eat. This is the equivalent of forcing our soldiers to practice Ramadan fasting."

Luckily, crazed-Neocon David Horowitz commandeered this story from World Net Daily, where one would have to pay a subscription in order to read it. Sounds like the perfect story to piss off the "conservative", rah-rah-war section of our political arena. "Sensitivity training" for US troops? We're too tough for that!

Maybe...maybe not.

I once had the opportunity to spend a year of my life, living, and working, in an Islamic Kingdom. Believe it or not, my neighbors really were human beings who lived and breathed just as us Western folk do. Yes they believed in weird things that I would never consider for a moment - but that was a two-way street. As long as I played the game, and didn't pull this "I'm-an-American-and-I'll-do-what-I-want!" crap, I was good to go. I was, after all, in their land.

The West, long ago, emasculated itself. We teach each other to have pride in nothing, and to respect other ways above our own. Some of us don't buy into it, but it is the prevailing way of life. Europe will never again produce a Charles Martel, and America will never again produce a Thomas Jefferson. That's just the way things are. And so we grow up hating the idea of ourselves, as instructed from the curriculum of a public school. And naturally, we're shocked when we find out that people in faraway lands actually do expect us to play ball by their rules when we come into their land.

To sum it all up, the "Army major" interviewed in this story has no friggin' clue. Some of us, who actually do care about the military and its being thrown into an un-winnable "war" on "terror", know full well about the parable of the strategic corporal. It's very clear that if our brothers and sisters are to be sent into a foreign land, they best be prepared to win at the moral level. Respecting the traditions and customs of the natives is very important. One guy being told not to eat in front of Muslims during sun-up is not a trend. And even if it becomes one...OH WELL. Until the politicians quit sending them into Muslim lands, that's just a small sacrifice the troops will have to make.

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