A major part of the mission for the soldiers here in Tuz, as well as in other areas I have visited, is meeting with the local religious, tribal, and political leaders to discuss the concerns and needs of the locals. When you visit an Iraqi’s home, local etiquette demands that they offer you at the very least something to drink, and very often something to eat. The food is often quite tasty--chicken and lamb, and a variety of vegetable garnishes. But the food is grown and prepared and very unsanitary conditions. The soldiers therefore eat the food to be polite, but do so at the risk of "Saddam’s revenge." Lt. Naum is the latest victim after having lunch at a local village two days ago. As he put it, "the two biggest dangers in Iraq are RPGs and lamb."
Tell him and the others to bring hot sauce with them to put on the food. The thing that makes the sauce hot also kills almost all of the bugs in food that make ya sick.
All they have to say if the people ask why they are putting it on is ’it’s a Hawaiian good luck’ thing...