If he knew how to speak any popular Arabic dialect, I'd agree and wouldn't have batted an eye. Walking into Baghdad with Nike's on and whipping out a phrase-book when trying to communicate screams "kidnap my ass" or "shoot me" no matter what hot-spot you're travelling in...
I've got a frame of reference to work with as I've illegally entered Morocco (rather unfriendly outside of Casablanca and Marrakesh for the most part) during days gone by but NOT during a time of war, not without knowing how to communicate and not without having someone next to me that could also handle themselves compentently if anything became "odd".
It was interesting enough in the pre 9/11 days doing something like that; I couldn't imagine trying a taxi service into Baghdad from Kuwait in times like this...
This was a bloody high-school journalism nerd, for chrissakes!
