Meet Gen. Jay Garner: Our Man in Baghdad
by SAM HAMOD, Counterpunch, Aril 24, 2003

General Jay Garner is "our man in Baghdad." It almost makes me think of that fine, sardonic novel by Graham Greene, OUR MAN IN HAVANA. The way it's beginning to play out, with Garner in his Dockers, sunglasses and his, "Hi, I'm Jay Garner." and the Iraqi Muslims , in old clothes and often unshaven and tired looking, greeting him with, "Assalamu Alaikum (Peace be upon you)"--it's clear the two are not on the same wave length.

The first thing you want to do when going into a foreign country where you anticipate negative reaction is to at least learn and say one of the more important phrases; in this case, the most important phrase in a Muslim country is, Assalamu Alaikum. This is the universal greeting among Muslims and even among most Arabs. But General Garner was having none of that, or no one told him how important this way-- [...]
- posted by ARYABHATT @ 8:25 pm