Point-Counterpoint: Culture Wars

American GI: "Iraqi towns all look the same"

Pat Roller
Currently deployed in Iraq

Everywhere I go with these convoys, all I see is the same thing. In every town, in every little corner of this smelly, god-foresaken country, I'm witness over and over to the same scenes. It reminds me of those old Jetsons episodes, where the background would just keep going by, over and over, on and on forever. And that is what I see in this neverending desert hell, is just more of the same.

When I was down in Fubar province, we stayed in al-Fubar for a few days, then we moved down through Nobar, then Al-Iwanis-ajob, and finally on to Wanadi. It was good to be with my platoon. We've grown close during this tour, which has lasted almost 18 months now. But I couldn't help noticing, again and again, that in all of those places, everything was the same: the burned out cars, the dead and rotten animal corpses, the destroyed buildings.

It's just so sad that these Iraqis are so behind the times. They don't have a lot of variety like we do in the States. Maybe in a few years, with the work we're doing here, and with the Leader's new Three Year Plan, we can start to bring some color back to this shit-tinted wasteland.

Iraqi immigrant: "American towns all look the same"

Izit Reel
Recently arrived in America

When I arrive in the US from my native Iraq eighteen months ago, I am glad to be away from the constant explosion and violence. My three children could be safe, go to school, and learn the American way. But one thing strike me quite hard when I arrive: every town look the same!

Whether I go to Springfield, or Shelbyville, or Motortown, it all look same. There's Starbucks over there, and Burger King, and Subway, and Wal-Mart, and BP gas station. Then next block, it repeat again. It remind me of the cartoon I used to see in Iraq when I was a boy, when we had peace. It was called Jetson. And when they travel, background always the same, repeating over and over. That's what I see in America. Sometimes I miss my native land, although I know I cannot go back because it is destroy.

There, before the bad times, we had many different towns. It was not the same in Baghdad, or Kirkuk, or Fallujah. Every place had something special, something different. Now, I must adapt to every city is the same in America. But I know I must sacrifice this culture and difference for my right to freedom here in beautiful USA.