Making friends in Baghdad
by Volker Weber
Comments
They really shouldn't be surprised when their Humvees get blown up.
So was it a joy ride or were they going fast because of an emergency?
Vive les Americains.
Apropos Freunde machen....diesen "typischen Bush Stil" , hat man bereits nach dessen Amtsantritt 2001 kennenlernen dürfen, als ein
US U-Boot mit Wahlkampf-Gästen an Bord, ein japanisches
Marine-Schulschiff bei "senkrechten" Auftauchen rammte und versenkte.
(siehe auch http://www.esys.org/news/sos_0102.html "U-Boot-Kapitän hat angeblich Periskop benutzt")!
@Joerg: the slower they drive, the easier target they are. However, I agree that this style of driving doesn't really make them being loved more by the civilian population.
Sort of reminds me of the chicken and the egg debate.
To add to Philipp Sury's comment...It's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't scituation.
Not to mention, they are only tapping the vehicles, if you watch they take care to slow down at some points and then tap the vehicle...I think if I was in the soldiers position, I might be RAMMING vehicles out of the way, better that then getting blown up.
(And by the way, yes I am an American...NO I do not support Bush...But I do support our troops.)
Arrogance and ignorance of the occupying forces ... or the real time Grand Theft Auto MV (Military Version).
@Phillip
No, it is not a henn and egg problem.
I agree with those who say they can not behave different *now*. I don't want to have a ride on one of those US vehicels :-(
But may be they wouldn't have to behave like this if they had performed different right from the begining.
Probably it was not in the US media, they were all so busy "supporting their troops" but the rest of the world could watch for example the clip which showed some Americans soldiers sitting on the back of a truck shooting at a car who was just coming to close. And this did not happen some days ago but shortly after they came in to Baghdad at a moment in time where they truly expected to be greeted with cheers.
When you want to learn how they really worked hard to fuck it up with the Iraqui people read http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/ . It is by an Iraqui who himself and his family supported the Americans and tried to bring forward the country. Read about what he and his family and friends experienced.
@Adam
You show the same intercultural sensitivity as the soldiers in this Humve. Having the finger in the nose in public is a no-no. But tapping cars is ok. You do not see any problem here. And this is exactly the problem the US currently faces with the rest of the world.
If you listen carefully, you will even hear their horn going all the time.
So they are not much different from german official cars like firefighters, which try to avoid damage, but will make some damage if they need to to save life (and are driving with emergency signal on). Ambulance is a bit different from that, because the cars are not so powerful and if they already have boarded a "passenger" they have to be more careful.
Maybe they should add more powerful horns to their cars?
Here‘s the British take on Humvees… Watch out for Jeremy in the village streets of quaint olde Englande…;o)
Top Gear: Hummer H1 and H2
From the people who think the Landrover to be the greatest car of all times. ;-)
Not so sure about your smiley Volker.. ;-)
chicken and egg...ugh?! never heard such a crap!
thie vid just speaks for itself!!!
this sucks!!!!!
Does anyone believe they would make friends if they were driving more carefully?
BTW, Volker: Landrover vs. Tank
two cars Humvee / Land Rover
two different nimbi
why?!
think!!!
@Moritz:
Little strokes fell big oaks.
From the view of an ex army member and now federal law inforcement officer (not in the us, but in europe) I can say so:
If this was an emergency, ok everything fine.
If it was just for fun, a not acceptable behaviour for soldiers! just look at these iraqis, they make the road free as soon as they see the humvee, and honking the horn is no reason to pull your car on the side in the middle east. from my middle east experience i can say that using the horn there is as normal as drivin with daytime running lights in sweden (where this is law)....
