In reply to:
Other than being generally unpleasant, I don't know what the daily relationship is like between troops and Iraqis is like, but it doesn't sound very good.
Well, considering that the TV pictures I've seen lately of US miltary patrols in Iraq, show shouting and hollering at Iraqi citizens in American English, by the "ground forces" on patrol - 'cos thats all the Americans know how to speak, then I would have to say that there is not a very good relationship at all.
The fact that the US miltary personnel in Iraq assume that shouting your orders in a (to most Iraqis) foreign language (and accent) is going to be understood and acted upon, is not going to make the local citizenry feel really happy towards their "liberators". I suspect the only real language understood between the locals and the US forces is the fact that the US has guns and waves them around a lot - and that gets the message across.
At least the British patrols appear to have local translators and therefore are able to communicate with the locals in their language.
Most of the US patrols I've seen footage of don't have anyone with local knowledge of the language or customs with them (or if they do, its only becuase the camera crew filming them bought one).
Because of this the chances for simple misunderstandings on either side to have serious or even fatal consequences seems very real.
Seems to me that the US military has overlooked this sort of "day to day" situation which occurs when a army switches from fighting to occupying. Just look at what mistakes happen in Japan and Germany now with US forces, and this is after nearly 60 years of "occupation".
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