[don-o]

There is something else to that also. In some Arabic cultures you are prohibited from harming a person with whom you've either hosted in your home or shared a meal with.

Excellent and factual observation. Thanks for making it.

[TheSpottedOwl]

It's funny but when I read where the Iraqis stopped and offered food to the soldiers, it rang a bell. Took me a while to remember. A lot of people are fond of saying that Middle Easterners are stuck in the 14th century, so they might want to also remember that 30 years of savagery by Hussein and the Ba'ath Party have replaced fierce pride with gratitude towards liberators. I see pictures of mass(not ambushes)surrenders, and I get an odd feeling.

No flames please. You all know which Iraqis I'm talking about.

[mdmathis6]

Yes but the koran allows one to be duplicitous with any one who is an infidel. Hospitality can be used as a ruse to kill one who is not Islamic. I fear that ricin might be used!