How do you communicate with an Iraqi?

Thursday I participated in a press conference with a general and one of the Government of Iraq Ministers. It was interesting to say the least.

One of our responsibilities is to assist the armed forces network in putting on a press conference twice a week. This is quite an undertaking because of the security considerations. We have to get reporters into the Green Zone, credential them to verify their affiliation, and then coordinate with the crews and interpreters.

This conference was focused on several points, but the one that caught my attention was the school issue. The minister reported that last week a school was raided by gunmen who held the principal and students at gunpoint because they objected to the education of Iraqi children. He went on to report how the teachers stood up to the terrorists in support of their students. We certainly have our problems with school shootings in America, but nothing compared to armed gunmen taking over an entire school. It just made me think of how good we have it.

After this example of how the Iraqi people are standing up to tyranny, he went on to tell of how last week a man who had joined the Iraqi army was conducting a security patrol in a Baghdad neighborhood. The target of the raid was his own home which had been taken over by insurgents. The minister said the man told him he gladly blew up his own house because he knew that it meant Iraq was now closer to being safe for his family. The minister said, "The Iraqi people have sacrificed more than the American People will ever realize".

I found it interesting how the minister from Iraq spoke in terms of stories to express his position on issues while the American general spoke in terms of data. The American military loves data to support our plans.

It just made me wonder if we can even communicate, a nation focused on facts, figures, and charts attempting to communicate to a people who speak through metaphor.

The difference in our language is more than Arabic and English, it is an entire cultural experience of how we express ourselves. We have much to learn.