SPIEGEL ONLINE - February 9, 2007, 12:38 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,465402,00.html
TYPECASTING FOR IRAQ
US Army Hires Arabs as 'Iraqi' Extras for War Games in Germany
By Christian Fuchs
The US Army in Germany is looking for 600 Arabic-speaking extras for its
Iraq training exercises in Germany. Willing participants can earn €90 a
day -- their main task is to not understand US soldiers.
"Does anyone here have anything against working with Americans?" the
gaunt German man asks the 29 Arab men and two women sitting in a bleak
white-painted room in Berlin.
Several people answer the question by standing up, taking their coats
and leaving the room.
"You can leave any time," the German tells the others, somewhat forlornly.
The German is in charge of a casting session for the United States
military, which is currently looking for 600 Arabic-speaking extras for
its war games in Germany with the help of classified ads in tabloid
newspapers such as Berlin's BZ. Similar casting events are taking place
in other major cities across Germany.
The US Army plans to simulate the situation in Iraq from March 20 to
April 11 in training exercises in Germany and want to add a touch of
realism with the Arabic-speaking extras. The extras will live for three
weeks at the Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) in Hohenfels,
Bavaria, located between Nuremberg and Regensburg.
The 16,000-hectare training ground includes ten artificial villages. The
extras are supposed to play "the role of an Arab in Iraq" for 24 hours a
day, according to the casting agent in Berlin. The women have to wear
headscarves, the men turbans. There is a mosque, a brothel, several
barracks and dormitories where the extras -- known as "Civilians on the
Battlefield" (COB) in military jargon -- will sleep.
The extras have to play the roles of mayors, terrorists, pregnant women
or traders. The US units taking part in the exercise will have certain
tasks to complete as part of their training. The civilians' main task,
on the other hand, will be to not understand the US soldiers.
Learning respect
The exercises are intended to help prepare US soldiers for the reality
on the ground in Iraq. US President George W. Bush recently announced he
plans to send 21,500 additional soldiers to Baghdad.
One aim is to "bring the city under control again, including
house-to-house fighting," according to Benjamin Schreer, an expert in
security policies at the German Institute for International and Security
Affairs (SWP). "It's particularly difficult to bring large groups of
people under control in an urban environment in a foreign culture," he says.
Militants often fire at US soldiers from the middle of groups of people,
and it is exactly this kind of situation that will be practiced with the
extras. "One scenario will have 150 people simulating a mass
demonstration," said the Berlin casting agent, who did not want to be named.
In addition, the soldiers will be taught how to interact with Arabs.
"They will be taught rules and respect," the agent says. Many of the
young soldiers have never left the US before and don't know how to
behave in foreign cultures before taking part in such exercises. They
had better learn fast: A few short weeks after the training in Germany,
they will be fighting in Iraq.
Bernhard Bergbauer took part in an earlier Iraq training session in
Hohenfels in 2003. He is one of four German extras whose story is told
in the new German documentary film "Weltverbesserer auf dem
Schlachtfeld" ("C.O.B. Civilians On The Battlefield"). The US soldiers
"had a bit to learn," he says in the film. "Afterwards they knew that
you can't just say to a sheik, 'I don't fucking care who you are!'"
Instead they now know "that this is an important person who must be
treated with respect," he says.
"What do the Yanks care about a dead Arab?"
A debate begins in the Berlin casting session after the agent finishes
his introduction. A Lebanese man wants to know how the roleplayers will
be protected and if the press is allowed to be present at the training
sessions for security. "Who guarantees that we will be helped if the
Americans make a mistake?" he asks the room. "What do the Yanks care
about a dead Arab?"
The mood becomes agitated. "No, not a single word of the operation will
reach the outside world, there are no media there," says the German
agent. He tries to reassure the potential actors: "But you'll be
employed by a German firm. There are strict security precautions."
By this stage, more than half of the Arabs have already left the room.
They were interested in taking part in a film, but the idea of spending
21 days surrounded by smoke grenades, camouflaged Jeeps and Blackhawk
helicopters, pretending to be shot with infra-red weapons, doesn't seem
quite so attractive.
Some working days last ten hours, while others go on around the clock.
The pay isn't that great either. An extra gets €90 ($117) per day -- if
you leave the training center early, you get less.
The Palestinian Mohamad Kabouli is not deterred. "I would take any job I
can get," he says. He is unemployed and has a family to take care of.
The 27-year-old Muslim says he has a "normal relationship" to the US.
He gets the basic information, then he fills out an "evaluation
questionnaire." Afterwards there is a German and an English language
test. Later, when he signs the contract, he will have to show his police
record, his social security card, his health insurance card and his tax
card.
Not easy to find
The casting session in Berlin is organized by the company b.o.r.k.
Dienstleistungen GmbH. Together with the company Detektei -- Service und
Sicherheit, they have the casting contract from the US Army, but prefer
to keep quiet about the details of their activities.
They don't want to get in the headlines like the company Optronic GmbH &
Co, which organized the casting until 2005. The company's owner,
Hans-Werner Truppel, was sentenced to four years in prison in May 2004
for smuggling aluminum tubing which could be used in producing
weapons-grade uranium to North Korea. The US Army put the casting
contract out to tender again in 2005.
The US military has been training with Muslim extras since 2003. "It's
not so easy to find them in Germany," says Timothy L. Good, who is
responsible for the "Civilians on the Battlefield" program at the CMTC.
It's not just that the requirements from the amateur actors are too
high, but also that reservations about the US are too large, he says.
The casting session in Berlin makes that clear too. By the end of the
morning, there are only four serious candidates left sitting in the
bleak room.
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007
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