"Why do they call you the Professor?“ I asked.
"Because I was a Professor,” he said,..."
“Why do they call you the Professor?“ I asked.
"Because I was a Professor,” he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing them as if to emphasise the point, “before you came and destroyed this country.”
We were getting off to an awkward start. “You know,” I said, “when this all started I opposed the war…”
“You have baked Iraq like a cake,” he said, “and given it to Iran to eat.”
He sniffed and folded his arms over his belly and closed his eyes. I pretended something on the side of the road had caught my eye. Most translators would never say anything like that to an American. We sat in silence for a while.
“Istalquaal,” I said finally, trying to draw him out. “Does that mean freedom or liberation?”
He opened his eyes a crack and looked at me sidelong. “Istalquaal? Istiqlal means independence,” he said. “Istalquaal means nothing. It means Americans can’t speak Arabic.”
- Phil Klay, Money as a Weapons System, Redeployment
"Because I was a Professor,” he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing them as if to emphasise the point, “before you came and destroyed this country.”
We were getting off to an awkward start. “You know,” I said, “when this all started I opposed the war…”
“You have baked Iraq like a cake,” he said, “and given it to Iran to eat.”
He sniffed and folded his arms over his belly and closed his eyes. I pretended something on the side of the road had caught my eye. Most translators would never say anything like that to an American. We sat in silence for a while.
“Istalquaal,” I said finally, trying to draw him out. “Does that mean freedom or liberation?”
He opened his eyes a crack and looked at me sidelong. “Istalquaal? Istiqlal means independence,” he said. “Istalquaal means nothing. It means Americans can’t speak Arabic.”
- Phil Klay, Money as a Weapons System, Redeployment
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