Jews, Israel and America

By Thomas L. Friedman

Scott had gone around and asked Iraqis on the streets what they called American troops—wondering if they had nicknames for us in the way we used to call the Nazis “Krauts” or the Vietcong “Charlie.” And what did he find? “Many Iraqis have so much distrust for U.S. forces we found they’ve come up with a nickname for our troops,” Scott said. “They call American soldiers ‘The Jews,’ as in, ‘Don’t go down that street, the Jews set up a roadblock.’ “