BASRA, 5 April 2003 — British and US forces battling to win over residents of Iraq’s second city are running into a tougher obstacle than most of the military defenses they have faced so far — the language barrier. Barely a handful of soldiers serving with the invading forces in Iraq can speak Arabic and few Iraqi civilians speak English, leaving both sides tearing their hair out in frustration when it comes to communication.
“It is a nightmare for us. No one speaks English,” said one soldier at a checkpoint on the southern approach to Basra, where US-led forces besieging the city for about two weeks want to win over ordinary residents. “Why can’t any of them speak Arabic?” asked one frustrated resident as he tried to explain his daughter needed a doctor.
Troops have been issued with lists of useful phrases to help them in their work. But few of the soldiers even attempt to get their tongues around the guttural phrases, and pointing to the Arabic translation doesn’t help as many people are illiterate.
“Nahnoo hoonaa limoo saa edu tek,” Pvt. Ian Johnstone said painstakingly as he handed out leaflets at a checkpoint yesterday. But what was supposed to be “we are here to help you” merely mystified the occupants of the car. “What is he saying. Is it English?” asked the driver. “I think we have about two Arabic speakers in the whole regiment,” one tank officer told Reuters.
“One is from Egypt and even he struggles because he says the dialect is different. The other one I reckon is speaking Pakistani and just pretends to get a language allowance.” Some units have supposedly been supplied with an electronic translating device but none have been spotted around Basra.
At the entrance to Basra yesterday, soldiers were handing out leaflets written in Arabic and English reading “People of Al-Basrah, we are here to liberate the people of Iraq. Our enemy is the regime and not the people.”
