Iraqi Colonel Calls for U.S Cultural Awareness

[sabra]

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,97296,00.html

Iraqi Colonel Calls for U.S Cultural Awareness

Camp Taji, Iraq - "When you first came here, you passed out chocolates to the children. Now you trust no one," said Staff Colonel Malik Muhammed Hussein al-Jaburi over a cup of chai in his 1st Battalion 1st Brigade of the Iraqi 9th Division.

The colonel, speaking through an interpreter, asked for American soldiers to understand his country's culture, and not always use the fist when dealing with Iraqis. "Not everyone is a terrorist," he said.

The colonel knows. Americans arrested him in 2004 and held him for two days. "It was a mistake," he said. "They could not differentiate between me and those who mean harm to us."

Many who have been taken are not terrorists, the colonel said, and some have been held much longer than just two days.