Taking US Segregation to Iraq

Scanning through the news early Saturday morning, I came across a very bizarre story about how, as of late, the military began forcing US and Iraqi forces that fight alongside each other to use segregated bathrooms.  Iraqis also have restricted access to dining halls, and are given one-third the amount of time US troops have to eat their meals:

The sign taped to the men's latrine is just five lines: "US MILITARY CONTRACTORS CIVILIANS ONLY!!!!!"

Here at this searing, dusty U.S. military post about four miles westof Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same footpatrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must usesegregated bathrooms.

Another sign, in a dining hall, warns Iraqis and "third-countrynationals" that they have just one hour for breakfast, lunch or dinner.American troops get three hours.

Iraqis say they sometimes wait as long as 45 minutes in hot lines toget inside the chow hall, leaving just 15 minutes to get their food andeat it.

It has been nearly 60 years since President Harry Truman endedracial segregation in the U.S. military. But at Forward Operating BaseWarhorse it's alive and well, perhaps the only U.S. military facilitywith such rules, Iraqi interpreters here say.

"The rule separating local national latrines from soldiers was enactedabout two to three rotations ago," Maj. Raul Marquez, a spokesman forthe 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, from FortHood, Texas, wrote in an e-mail.

Again, these are US and Iraqi soldiers that fight and die alongside one another each day.  How degrading.  What ever happened to living up to the slogan "Operation Iraqi Freedom?"