Freedom's Just Another Word

We're bringing democracy to Iraq - circa the South in the 1950's.

The sign taped to the men’s latrine is just five lines:

“US Military Contractors Civilians Only!!!!!”

It needed only one: “No Iraqis.”

Here at this searing, dusty U.S. military base about four miles west of Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same foot patrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must use segregated bathrooms.

Here's a picture:



Warbloggers on the right immediately set to examining the typeface.

Even the Iraqi interpreters have to use separate bathrooms, and the reasons are literally because they're filthy dirty:

Other soldiers traced the regulations to what they called cultural differences.

“We’ve had issues with locals,” said Staff Sgt. Oscar Garcia. “It’s not because we’re segregating.”

Garcia said that some Iraqis squatted on the rims of unfamiliar American-style toilets or used showers as toilets.

Another soldier at the administrative hub cited conflicts over hygiene habits.

“We can’t accept people washing their feet where I brush my teeth,” he said.

Do you want to just poke your eyes out sometimes? We're not helping Iraq so much as teaching them how to drive each other apart. How long until the "Shiites only" signs go up in the bathroom stalls? We stumble in and can't sustain anything, neither security or even providing basic electricity and other services, we know that. But more so, we teach a culture of difference to the Iraqis. We force them to look at themselves in opposition to us and to each other. We institute quotas and mandates and highlight racial differences that once stood in the background. We are the catalyst for civil war and ethnic cleansing. And we seek to disassociate ourselves with them at every turn, betraying everything America is supposed to stand for by closing the doors of progress.

There aren't a lot more words you can say here.