#457 - When Your Country Could be Your Death Sentence

When it's not just bad form but actually deadly to be an American abroad, you know your government has gone too far.

This week the Dutch government sent 1,100 peacekeepers to Iraq to replace some of the American soldiers there.

The first item of business for these Dutch soldiers was to make it clear they are not Americans:

For extra safety, the Dutch troops are distinguishing themselves from the Americans. They have scrawled "the Netherlands" in Arabic on their vehicles, and distributed posters making sure the local people know they are Dutch. (via the New York Times)

What's a poor American soldier to do, hand out cards reading "I'm not for Bush" in Arabic?