From:
MSNBC
Quote:
The Secret War
It’s been the best-covered war in history. But the key to success was what we didn’t see: Special Forces, psyop, the air war—and the utterly inept Iraqi Army
By Evan Thomas and Martha Brant
Newsweek
April 21 issue - Know thine enemy is a cardinal rule of war. Ignorance was costly for American soldiers fighting guerrillas in Vietnam. Before plunging into Iraq, U.S. psychological-warfare operators studied certain cultural stereotypes.
One was that young Arab toughs cannot tolerate insults to their manhood. So, as American armored columns pushed down the road to Baghdad, 400-watt loudspeakers mounted on Humvees would, from time to time, blare out in Arabic that Iraqi men are impotent. The Fedayeen, the fierce but undisciplined and untrained Iraqi irregulars, could not bear to be taunted. Whether they took the bait or saw an opportunity to attack, many Iraqis stormed out of their concealed or dug-in positions, pushing aside their human shields in some cases—to be slaughtered by American tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.
|
I don't think you could convince very many Americans to undergo a gruesome and pointless death by casting aspersions on their weenies. This is why I could never be a cultural relativist. Stuff like this is a bug, not a feature.
Last edited by Buff at Jan 21 2004, 10:59 AM
01-21-2004
Threaded Mode
