Something caught my eye in the stories emerging about Iraqis taking up arms against US and UK forces.
I’ll post the link to the whole story appearing in Rueters below but the part I found interesting is this:
** "Residents and witnesses said anger had been simmering as the British used sniffer dogs and aggressively searched local homes.
“These British soldiers came with their dogs and pointed weapons at women and children. As Muslims, we can’t accept dogs at our homes,” Rabee al-Malki told Reuters.
Muslims take offence over dogs in their homes, believing the animals to be impure." **
In the US, obviously, dogs as pets in the home is something so ingrained in society that we probably would never even think that such a thing could be of profound insult to people of other cultures. Sounds to me as if we need to get some kind of a cooperating ruling council of Iraqis in place very quickly so that our leaders and forces can get educated respecting the culture. Our goal is not and should not be to change the Iraqi culture. If we want to be respected and welcomed, the “help” we try to offer must respect the cultural integrity of the people. You can’t respect that integrity unless you take the time to learn what it is.
the whole story is here: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2987114