Akaka On Cultural Awareness

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) makes a great point. "Cultural awareness" he says, is increasingly "a center of gravity" in wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. So what cultural awareness training do the troops get, Gen. Odierno?

"We do it at all our schools now, in all our warrior-leader courses," Odierno says. "We have to continue to adjust. We continue to learn more, and understand it better." I’ll say. Once soldier once told me that it wasn’t till 2005 that troops learned not to show their palms to Iraqis at a checkpoint — since what says "stop" to us says "go" to them. Think about the awful implications of that.