The Greatest Generation -- Where'd they go again?

From Robert at LGM, this manual issued to US soldiers in Iraq (circa 1943) is simply too good to not read in it's entirety. (PDF!) Perhaps my favourite part so far (and I'm only on page 4!):



But just remember what Tony Blair told us all -- nobody could have expected the insurgency to take root the way it did, or that the Iraqis would have fought back. Except, apparently, Tony's parents.

More seriously, I suppose this shows the near-perfect mutability of the perceived traits of outsiders to our own community, whether that be religious, ethnic, what have you. Back in the 1940s, when Iraqi assymetrical warfare was necessary as a defense of British colonial posessions against Hitler, we described them as "highly skilled guerillas" and "staunch and valuable allies". Fast forwards 60 years, and those traits get them labelled terrorists and "dead-enders".

The Iraqis, of course, haven't actually changed that much, except in their usefulness to us.

ADDED: Oh shit, this is too great, on the very next page: