Clueless in Iraq (Pearl Harbor)

As the sun sets over Baghdad, the call to prayer uncoils from the city's minarets. A young American soldier is manning a checkpoint. He puts a megaphone to his lips and imitates the sound.

This soldier does not appear to mean harm. His performance is intended to amuse. He clearly has no idea of how offensive his actions are to the millions of Muslims who live on the other side of the razor wire and concrete blocks and sand bags that separate him from them. Another soldier, evidently more senior, tells him to "knock it off" - not for the first time, says the cheerful joker with the bullhorn.  article

I don't know why they hate us.

We're entering the Green Zone, the fortress town of four square miles in which several thousand diplomats, civil servants, consultants, spies, soldiers and contractors live in the heart of Baghdad. The comic-in-khaki is on guard duty.

This place was created as a safe haven to allow the occupation authorities and those assisting them in the reconstruction of Iraq to live and work at less risk of attack than within the rest of Baghdad.

...Journalists attending a recent appearance by the US top commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, were body-searched four times, and bawled at by soldiers. Good manners are not a strong point in the Zone, let alone winning hearts and minds.

...British officials insist that they do get out into Iraq regularly. But many people stay inside the Zone for weeks. Although life is not exactly luxurious, there are home comforts. For the British officials, and the soldiers who protect them, British Forces TV - EastEnders, Casualty and Premiership soccer included - is piped into their trailers. In the evenings they have ping-pong tournaments and games of Pictionary andCluedo. Unlike their American counterparts, the British soldiers are allowed to drink, although the limit - officially, at least - is two pints.

...As in their military bases elsewhere in Iraq, the Americans have re-created the world from which they came. Their cafeterias serve burgers with barbecue sauce, peanut butter and jelly, even lobster - all imported, not least as a precaution against poisoning. As for the banks of TV sets, if they are not tuned to American football then they will be showing the neo-conservative, war-mad Fox News. This is channel of choice for the entire US military, as it is for the CPA's Republican-appointed civilian press officers - who, say sources, consider the BBC to be anti-American and often refuse to talk to its staff.  article

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.