Dirtbags?

We had a welcoming speech by a sergeant major when we first got here. He said he would welcome us here, but he didn't want to welcome us to a sh*thole. Well, that view is pretty commonly shared.

Things are just dirty, dusty and run down. Looting after the invasion certainly didn't help, but it's easy to tell that even without the looting there wasn't a lot of what we'd consider nice. Building construction seems haphazard. Straight lines in Iraqi buildings are optional and rare. Even in the nicer, larger buildings, buildings which used to be large homes or office buildings, the windows are all single pane and poorly fitted. Doors are hollow core, or just thin metal. For a place that gets so hot, insulation doesn't seem to be in vogue. When it rains, roofs leak and water doesn't drain away from buildings but instead gets into the buildings.

I'm sure that a couple years of GI occupation haven't helped, but again, I can tell things weren't all that nice to begin with. Cheap tile poorly laid, cheap bathrooom fixtures, poor lighting, all tell the tale. It may look good at first, but won't last. Bathroom fixtures that look like gold when new, but just look like fake gold later. And those I saw in one of Saddam's palaces, along with large chandeliers which look like crystal are are actually plastic.

Iraqis set up road side stands to sell soda and whatnot out of. It's hard to see whizzing by at 55 mph. There will be several together, usually at an intersection or traffic circle. Invariably, behind the stands is a pile of garbage. Wrappers, boxes, empty soda bottles, etc. It looks like the stand proprietors just toss their junk out back. The fields around them are littered with garbage that has been blown from the stands. Apparently litter laws are non-existant or not enforced.

A guide to Iraqi culture says that they think Americans dress too casually, and that Iraqis take pains in dressing. I guess that may be, but I suspect that is only among the upper crust. I see Iraqi army and police, and they just don't grasp the concept of a military appearance, at least not as most armed services view it. Hats not worn or worn crooked, coats or shirts undone and not tucked in, boots not bloused, shined or laced up. And, I never see any two wearing the same uniform. It's called a uniform for a reason; its uniform, everyone wears the same. Lack of military discipline. You also see it in news footage of them in battle, not only what they wear but how they act. They just jump up, hold the trigger down on a rifle until the magazine is empty, spraying bullets in the general direction of the target. No wonder they don't hit anything.