"Do you speak English?"
Excellent war coverage being delivered by Reuters these days. The agency has had more than its share of troubles recently, and it's being hammered on the trading floors and on the desktops by Bloomberg, but the honourable Reuters tradition of news coverage is evident in how it's responding to events in Iraq.
Along with fine writing, including a "War Diary" by Luke Baker, the agency's website is providing dramatic raw video of events as they unfold. One stream early this morning showed Iraqi soldiers surrendering to an American unit. As this handful of unarmed, rather bedraggled looking Iraqis squatted by the roadside, a young American soldier approached and asked: "Do you speak English?" There was a muffled reply but one could pick out the word "No" uttered by one of the captured. His war has ended, but his English learning has just begun.
Clearly, one of the growth areas in a liberated Iraq will be the provision of English-language training. The de-Baathed power elite will need to communicate with those in charge of the interim administration, and traders and professionals of all kinds will want to make the most of the opportunities that reconstruction will offer. The British Council is currently involved in teaching English in countries that range from Azerbaijan to Vietnam, but Iraq is missing from its list of client states. That will change before long, though.
Diarist of the day: Cynthia Gladwyn, 22 March 1963"There is a good deal of talk going on about Profumo, Minister of War, being involved in some form of sex scandal, arranged by Bill Astor [newspaper proprietor] and concerning a missing model. Profumo made a statement in the House of Commons today clearing himself of having seen the girl since December 1961. He is nice, but a poor creature to get himself embroiled in all this."
