Iraqi Urban Legends

[Dreadsox]

OK, I know there is very little to laugh about these days, but there are urban legends in Iraq that have been circulating about American soldiers the article is a little funny at times, and serious as well.

MODS I put it here because it is a bit humorous. Move it if you like.

"With those glasses, he can definitely see through women's clothes," said the engineering student, Samer Hamid. "It makes me angry. We are afraid to take our families out on the street."

The retired accountant, Hekmet Tinber Hassan, smiled and said it was a baseless rumor, just like the widespread story that Saddam Hussein had been secretly working for America and was now at a C.I.A. safe house. "I do not believe Saddam is in America," Mr. Hassan said. "I heard he went to Tel Aviv."

Some Iraqis say the soldiers take special pills that keep them cool, but the most common theory is that they have portable air-conditioners ? usually said to be inside the vests, but sometimes placed in the helmet or even the underwear.

"There is fluid circulating throughout the underwear," said Mr. Hamid, the engineering student. "I am not sure of the exact mechanism, but we all know the Americans have very sophisticated technology."

Other versions of the ugly-American stories have the soldiers drinking beer (or sometimes Kool-Aid laced with alcohol) inside their tanks near mosques. They have been accused in the Arab press of using pages from the Koran for toilet paper and of giving children candy packets containing pornography.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/international/worldspecial/07LEGE.html?ex=1060833600&en=4e022fed69ab6e53&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

 

[deep]

these are funny

but I have a serious concern for the level of misunderstanding that can put our soldiers at higher risk

 

[Angela Harlem]

I think Bush and co need to look at the Iraqi education system after all this dies down. Engineering specifically.

 

[Dreadsox]

I think Bush and co need to look at the Iraqi education system after all this dies down. Engineering specifically.

All I know is that when I was in the service during Desert Storm we did not have x-Ray Glasses or Water Coolant Underpants.

You would need the AC underpants if you were using your x-ray glasses.

Can't have things getting to hot in there distracting the soldiers from the task at hand

However, it is enough to make me want to reinlist...those glasses could come in handy


Oh look it's Angela Dancing

 

[Angela Harlem]