More propaganda to feed the war machine and the ones ignorant of other cultures.....so sad.
From snopes:
Origins:
We first encountered this e-mail in April 2003, during the early days of the war in Iraq. Since then it has been passed from inbox to inbox, variously titled "Ann Rea's Son," Rea's Son," and "Letter From A Mom."
Is it a true story? We don't know. There is little in it that lends itself to independent verification — other than his being identified as "Ann Rea's son" in some tellings, the serviceman is not named (and the question remains open as to whether "Ann Rea" is a first-and-surname combo or a double-barreled given name), and neither his base nor his unit is mentioned. Likewise, none of the other characters in the story have names or are in any other way identifiable; not the patriotic cashier, the burqa-clad woman, or the outspoken older man. Indeed, neither the name of the store nor that of the city where the incident purportedly took place is provided.
Some folks question the e-mail on the basis of its key figure being described as wearing a burqa, a traditional head-to-toe covering worn by many women in Afghanistan — someone from Iraq would be highly unlikely to don such a garment, given that Iraq is a far more secular part of the Muslim world. They correctly point out that in the U.S. a woman clad in such a garment would be a rare sight indeed and that anyone so garbed would be unlikely to be found shopping unaccompanied by her husband or other male relative or to be addressing those she encountered in the outspoken manner attributed to the woman in this story. Yet it is entirely possible the story's author confused one unfamiliar article of clothing for another, describing the woman as clad in a burqa when he meant she was wearing a chador (a quite different kind of robe) or a hijab (a head scarf), the latter commonly worn by Muslim women in the U.S.
In the almost-year since this story first made the rounds, no one has stepped forward to claim authorship of it or to say "Yes, I was that soldier" or "My mother was that cashier" or "I was another customer in the store that day and saw the confrontation." Does this mean the story is fiction? Well, no. The lack of supporting evidence doesn't disprove the account, it just fails to prove it.
However, when evidence to confirm them is lacking, one should strive to remain skeptical of what are presented as real-life accounts that state in narrative form things people are predisposed to believe, especially those tales wherein wrongdoers get their comeuppance through being told off by others. The "ungrateful Iraqi read the riot act over her lack of appreciation for the sacrifices Americans are making for her" is too neat an illustration of a concept held too dearly by too many not to be viewed with a dose of suspicion.
Many Americans view their country's war with Iraq as a humanitarian effort undertaken to liberate the sorely oppressed Iraqi people from a monster of a leader, and they are therefore angered by a seeming lack of gratitude on the part of those they are rescuing. Because the issue is so clear-cut to them, they find it hard to accept that some Iraqis may continue to be resentful of the coalition forces that invaded their land, bombed their cities, killed some of their citizens, and are still occupying their country. To those Americans who have seen their sons and daughters shipped off to fight this war, it's ludicrous their soldiers are being cold-shouldered by the very folks they're dying for. A story of one such Iraqi being publicly reminded of what's being done for her will resonate quite strongly with those parents (and other Americans), in that such a tale represents a voicing of what many of them would very much like to say.
From Break the Chain:
Tales of unappreciative foreigners getting their comeuppance at the hands of a quick-witted "patriot" are popular during times of war. The ethnicity of the rebuff's recipient varies with whomever the U.S. is currently at war, but tales of insolent Arabs have been plentiful since 9/11. Other popular missives in this genre tell of a Budweiser truck driver who pulls his company's product from a convenience store's cooler after supposedly witnessing employees celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Minister who shames a Muslim cleric into admitting that his is a violent religion.
There are two possibilities regarding the origins of the story above:
It is true, but was intended for a few recipients who knew the author well; or
All or parts of it are made up from whole cloth.
Unfortunately, as written, it gives no clues that could help us validate it. It's not dated and the author does not identify himself or herself, nor does he or she give the identity of the son (not even which branch of "the military" he serves). While we're told it happened in California, we're not told which city or even the name of the grocery store. Without these facts, we must label this one rumor. It is quite possible that the author assumed those who would receive it would know enough to properly categorize it. But, it's equally possible that it is fanciful fiction built around a long-standing tradition of urban legend.
E-mail cannot be relied upon to accurately convey information. As this one circulates, it is taking on many aspects of legend. Later versions add 'detail' absent from the one above, such as the "the whole store broke out in applause," and "the woman abandoned her purchase and ran from the store, ashamed." Also, some who have forwarded it have inadvertently added their contact information to it, setting them up for a case of False Attribution Syndrome. Break this chain
