The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: From 'Gook' to 'Raghead': "The officer's comment was a harbinger of the gratuitous violence that, according to Mr. Delgado, is routinely inflicted by American soldiers on ordinary Iraqis. He said: 'Guys in my unit, particularly the younger guys, would drive by in their Humvee and shatter bottles over the heads of Iraqi civilians passing by. They'd keep a bunch of empty Coke bottles in the Humvee to break over people's heads.'

He said he had confronted guys who were his friends about this practice. 'I said to them: 'What the hell are you doing? Like, what does this accomplish?' And they responded just completely openly. They said: 'Look, I hate being in Iraq. I hate being stuck here. And I hate being surrounded by hajis.' '

'Haji' is the troops' term of choice for an Iraqi. It's used the way 'gook' or 'Charlie' was used in Vietnam."