It's Greek to Him

I was scanning some back editions of the New York Times today, and a photo that led the 11/12/06 edition caught my eye. It features American soldiers in full battle gear checking the i.d. cards of Iraqi indigenous personnel. The caption reads, "An American soldier checks the i.d. cards of Iraqis during a security operation in Diyala Province."

This sparked two thoughts:

(1) Why is this population and resources control function not being performed by Iraqi units, as this should be a host nation police function?

(2) Can this U.S. soldier read what's on the i.d. card?