The Occupiers’ Guide to Iraq

US troops in Iraq who don’t speak Arabic must fall back on pictures

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When you don’t have the words, use pictures. That’s the principle of the Iraq Visual Language Survival Guide. This foldable, pocket-size pamphlet gives new meaning to the phrase “point and shoot.” Its maker, Kwikpoint, which claims to have 250,000 guides in use on today’s battlefields and has contracted with the U.S. General Services Administration to continue supplies through 2008, publishes these mini-images to assist with every activity, from weapons searches to eating lunch. Along with the “universal icons” for communicating during surrenders and searches (right), this guide also helps soldiers chat pictographically about trip wires, bomb-making, and the facial hair of the enemy.

Surrender

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At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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