SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2006, Issue No. 78
July 11, 2006

Secrecy News Blog: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

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A NEW IRAQ CULTURE SMART CARD

"Don't use your left hand for contact with others," advises the U.S.
Marine Corps in a new edition of the Iraq Culture Smart Card which
is distributed to military personnel in Iraq. "It is considered
unclean."

It seems late in the day for such niceties. Amid the daily brutality
of the Iraq war, there is probably little to be gained by courtesy
or to be lost by mere rudeness.

But the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity evidently thinks
otherwise.

The MCIA has produced an updated Iraq Culture Smart Card, which
features rudimentary information on Iraqi customs, religion and
language. A copy was obtained by Secrecy News and is available here
(in a very large 22 MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/iraqsmart-0506.pdf