How Do You Say CLUELESS?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031702089.html?sub=AR

damning article in the WashPost:
snip
"I was assigned by the State Department to interpret for the Baghdad Conference (to establish an interim government) and later to provide language support to both Barbara Bodine and retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the two highest officials in postwar Iraq. I didn't know how the experiment would turn out. But as I arrived in Baghdad, I really believed the United States had an efficient, well-studied plan to put Iraq together after toppling the Saddam regime."
snip
"Lt. Col. Bill came over to my office to enlist my help in finding him an interpreter. He complained that the officials of the former Ministry of Culture could not speak English. Pointing at a book on my desk, he asked, "So what is this book you are reading?"

"The bible," I started to say.

"But I thought you are Shia!" he cut me off.

I told him that the book, "The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq," was Hanna Batatu's book on Iraq and that it was a must-read for anyone dealing with modern Iraq's political history.

Bill pulled from his back pocket a green paperback, published in the mid-'80s by Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and with a straight face told me, "All I need to know about Iraq is in here."

snip

--------
The arrogance of the Americans on display throughout this article is absolutely stunning. I didn't see this posted elsewhere - apologies if this is a dupe...

tomorrow.

Thanks, great article.