thedrifter
07-31-07, 06:32 AM
Marines get cultural training to help Iraq mission
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- Shake hands only with your right hand. Never set down your cup of coffee unless you want to insult your host. Shame and honor are very important to Iraqi Bedouin culture. Tribalism is the bedrock of Iraq, but jobs and security can transcend blood ties.
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Those were just a few of the messages that Marines from Camp Pendleton's 5th Marine Regiment started hearing Monday in a weeklong session of Iraqi cultural training. The training is aimed at making the regiment more effective in its mission to quell insurrection and help establish a new government when it heads off to Iraq.
Col. Patrick Malay, the regiment's commanding officer, sat in his modest office at the base's Camp San Mateo Monday morning, quizzing Joe Harris, a Moroccan-born cultural trainer with the Marines' Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning.
Malay started with a brief religious overview, which included the differences between Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and the background of the philosophical divisions between Sunni and Shia Muslims. He ended with advice about the cultural importance of tea, greetings and handshakes.
Harris, who was formerly with the U.S. Army and spent a number of years in Iraq, said the cultural training that Malay and his regiment were getting ---- which included laminated handouts with strategic phrases in Arabic such as "Hello," "Stay here," "Where is the enemy?" and "Thank you, God be with you" ---- was not just about training warriors how to get along better with the Iraqis with whom they'll come into contact.
"The key word is operational," Harris said of the training. "It will lead our fleets and our commanders in the battlefield to reshape the outcome of whatever is going on in the battlefield to our advantage. That is what we do."
Malay's regiment is expected to go to Iraq sometime soon. The Marines would not say when the deployment will begin.
"We're in the chute," said 1st Lt. Lawton King.
Malay, who has been to Iraq twice before and spent a couple of years as Security Force commander in Bahrain, said Monday that he had taken the cultural training before his last deployment in Iraq. The training runs from manners and rudimentary language to understanding tribal culture, the economy, demographics and infrastructure.
Malay said the training helped him as a field commander in understanding how to deal with the different factions and groups, and to further the United States' larger goals of "creating security, getting functional government that is an extension of the legislative process."
"It's very complicated," he said. "It's very tiring. But that's counterinsurgency. Perseverance and endurance are very important qualities. In many ways, it's like a wrestling match. No matter what move they whip at you there's always a counter, and a counter to that counter."
In the training with Malay, Harris said that with the ouster of former strongman Saddam Hussein and the struggle to create a new working government, much of the country had reverted to a tribal culture in which sheiks rule tribes and make all the important decisions. Harris said the way to gain the support of those groups was to find a way to provide jobs ---- money that will help families get back on their feet.
"They'll listen to the person with power," Harris said.
Malay, meanwhile, said learning more about Iraq's culture would help the United States complete its mission in the country. And, he said, it would help Marines spread a more positive image of the United States in the war-torn country by earning respect through learning the language and displaying cultural understanding and awareness.
But he said he also believed that the training would do more than that. It would make them better citizens of the United States.
"If they come to understand another culture ---- they see the good, the bad and the ugly of it ---- and they have tolerance and respect, that will make them better citizens," he said.
Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- Shake hands only with your right hand. Never set down your cup of coffee unless you want to insult your host. Shame and honor are very important to Iraqi Bedouin culture. Tribalism is the bedrock of Iraq, but jobs and security can transcend blood ties.
View A Video
Those were just a few of the messages that Marines from Camp Pendleton's 5th Marine Regiment started hearing Monday in a weeklong session of Iraqi cultural training. The training is aimed at making the regiment more effective in its mission to quell insurrection and help establish a new government when it heads off to Iraq.
Col. Patrick Malay, the regiment's commanding officer, sat in his modest office at the base's Camp San Mateo Monday morning, quizzing Joe Harris, a Moroccan-born cultural trainer with the Marines' Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning.
Malay started with a brief religious overview, which included the differences between Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and the background of the philosophical divisions between Sunni and Shia Muslims. He ended with advice about the cultural importance of tea, greetings and handshakes.
Harris, who was formerly with the U.S. Army and spent a number of years in Iraq, said the cultural training that Malay and his regiment were getting ---- which included laminated handouts with strategic phrases in Arabic such as "Hello," "Stay here," "Where is the enemy?" and "Thank you, God be with you" ---- was not just about training warriors how to get along better with the Iraqis with whom they'll come into contact.
"The key word is operational," Harris said of the training. "It will lead our fleets and our commanders in the battlefield to reshape the outcome of whatever is going on in the battlefield to our advantage. That is what we do."
Malay's regiment is expected to go to Iraq sometime soon. The Marines would not say when the deployment will begin.
"We're in the chute," said 1st Lt. Lawton King.
Malay, who has been to Iraq twice before and spent a couple of years as Security Force commander in Bahrain, said Monday that he had taken the cultural training before his last deployment in Iraq. The training runs from manners and rudimentary language to understanding tribal culture, the economy, demographics and infrastructure.
Malay said the training helped him as a field commander in understanding how to deal with the different factions and groups, and to further the United States' larger goals of "creating security, getting functional government that is an extension of the legislative process."
"It's very complicated," he said. "It's very tiring. But that's counterinsurgency. Perseverance and endurance are very important qualities. In many ways, it's like a wrestling match. No matter what move they whip at you there's always a counter, and a counter to that counter."
In the training with Malay, Harris said that with the ouster of former strongman Saddam Hussein and the struggle to create a new working government, much of the country had reverted to a tribal culture in which sheiks rule tribes and make all the important decisions. Harris said the way to gain the support of those groups was to find a way to provide jobs ---- money that will help families get back on their feet.
"They'll listen to the person with power," Harris said.
Malay, meanwhile, said learning more about Iraq's culture would help the United States complete its mission in the country. And, he said, it would help Marines spread a more positive image of the United States in the war-torn country by earning respect through learning the language and displaying cultural understanding and awareness.
But he said he also believed that the training would do more than that. It would make them better citizens of the United States.
"If they come to understand another culture ---- they see the good, the bad and the ugly of it ---- and they have tolerance and respect, that will make them better citizens," he said.
Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.
Ellie