German army in new racism row
Quote:
A video showing a German army instructor telling one of his soldiers to envision African-Americans in the Bronx while firing his machine gun was broadcast Saturday on national television.
The video, coming after scandals involving photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan and the abuse of recruits by instructors, seemed likely to raise more questions about training practices in Germany's conscript army.
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Quote:
The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways ... Act."
The soldier fires his machine gun several times and yells an obscenity several times in English. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.
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story link:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe...ermany.race.ap
video link:
http://www.nowpublic.com/video_of_ra...video_portal_1
Derogatory Terms fpr Arabs
Quote:
I know US Military using derogative terms for arabs to train troops but for Germans to use Bronx "example" I am just puzzled where that came from!??
Sarajevo,
Just what would those terms be and where does this happen? I can tell you that as a matter of course, this sort of stuff gets stamped on pretty hard where I work. I would be quite curious to know what your source of information is.
Tom
Ali - Baba vs. Al Havae (phnetics)
One of the things I noticed when I started listening and thinking - was the use of the IA to jokingly use the term Ali-Baba when describing AIF activity. This was a hold over from young US soldiers looking for a word that would communicate a thought to Iraqis in 2003-2004 in order to collect information. Interestingly the word Ali-Baba was decreasing in favor of "Al havae" (bad spelling, but such are translations) which comes about as close as possible to terrorist in meaning. CFs working more closely with ISF have also picked up on this word, and Ali Baba is rarely heard anymore. Hajji - meaning among other things - one who has made the trip - is now used mostly in its proper context(s). Much of this has to do with soldiers and marines understanding more an more of the culture as they make multiple deployments, and the cultural training in the CTCs. I suspect if there is large scale residual use of deregatory terms, its by folks who made the initial 2003 (maybe 2004) deployments, but none since or the train up that accompanies them. Our soldiers are becoming culturally saavy, and astute. The only other people I've heard use deragatory terms were some of the people who never left the FOB or interacted with Iraqis (Arab, Kurdish, Turkoman, or other) as people.