Iraqis revive ancient word `ulooj' to insult, greet U.S. troops

Iraqis revive ancient word `ulooj' to insult, greet U.S. troops By Hannah Allam Knight Ridder Newspapers Mon, Jan. 05, 2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq - College students whisper the word when they spot U.S. troops in Baghdad streets. Vandals scrawl the word across military vehicles. Sneering taxi drivers mutter it when convoys block their cabs. "Ulooj," they say, and while some use it with disdain and others more lightheartedly, it's unmistakably not a nice reference - though what precisely the ancient term from Arabic literature means depends on whom you ask. Among the translations offered: pigs of the desert, foreign infidels, little donkeys, medieval crusaders, bloodsuckers and horned creatures. While no one can quite pin down the original definition, Iraqis agree on the modern definition: "It's the American military," said Maria Hassan, a 23-year-old history major at a university in Baghdad. "We use this word from the past for our occupiers of the present." The revival of "ulooj" (pronounced oo-LOOZH) is the handiwork of Mohammed Saeed al Sahaf, the alternately comical and caustic information minister from the former Iraqi regime. In the first days of the war, Sahaf sent Iraqis running for their dictionaries when he used the word in a speech to describe advancing U.S. forces. Today, "ulooj" lingers as the unofficial national nickname for American soldiers, even among many who profess support for the U.S. presence. "The Americans always use fancy words for their operations here - Desert Storm, Iron Grip - so we should also have special names for them," said Ahmed Kandeel, a 20-year-old Egyptian who attends university in Iraq. "What does `ulooj' mean, anyway? Isn't it `pigs of the desert?' " Ali al Khateeb, who translated Sahaf's live remarks into English for foreign journalists during the war, said he was stumped the day his former boss mentioned "ulooj" at a news conference. Khateeb said he racked his brain for a suitable translation as Western reporters stared at him with impatience. He finally settled on "the enemy" for lack of a better definition. "I went to my old professors after that press conference to ask them for a more precise word," said Khateeb, who's now a producer for an Arabic-language satellite TV station. "One told me it means `little donkeys' and the other said it's `big monsters with small minds.' No one can say for sure. It was an obsolete word before the war." Few soldiers are aware of their new moniker. Iraqi children delight in shouting it as they smile and wave to passing U.S. troops, who happily return what they think is a genuine greeting.