Pimsleur Arabic

I've been trying to learn Arabic off the 'Pimsleur Arabic' audio lessons. I highly recommend it, atleast for a few good laughs.

What struck me as funny as soon as I started the lesson was the first sentence that Pimsleur's wanted to drive into its audience clearly...how to say, "I am not an American" as articulately as possible.

"Ana muu Ameriki. Ana Englizi"

The Pimsleur people must have been thinking, look, if someone's gonna pick this course up, its probably gonna be the Yanks now drilling out as much oil as possible before Muqtada gets to the oil wells. And if an American picks up a book wanting to learn Arabic, with the intention of using it anywhere in Arab land, the most important sentence he'll probably have to use is, "Ana muu Ameriki." The latter part, "Ana Englizi" ("I am English") was probably added as an afterthought, to allay any lingering suspicions that an Arab may have after being told the former (come on, Arabs are smart. A damned blue eyed blonde guy walking around in Baghdad certainly couldn't have come from Morocco now, could he?).

I am into lesson four right now and I don't seem to be making much headway besides learning how to vehemently deny having anything to do with America or American foreign policy, in Arabic. I seem to be hearing "Ana muu Ameriki" in my sleep now.

Whats also tickles me is the way they teach you to ask questions in Arabic. The instructions go something like this:

Narrator: This is how you say, "You are a Syrian" to a woman.
Male Arabic speaker: Ente Suriye.
Narrator: Now say, "You are a Syrian," to a woman.
Male Arabic speaker: Ente Suriye.
(Repeats 15 times)

Narrator: This is how you ask a woman, "Are you Syrian?"
Male Arabic Speaker: Ente Suriye?
Narrator: Note that unlike in English, you don't say, "are you" to ask
the question. You merely change the tone of voice to indicate that
you're asking a question.
Male Arabic Speaker: Ente Suriye?
(Repeats till I fall asleep)

Ofcourse, I understand the informed decision to teach prospective American students how to ask the other person if he was a Syrian before embarking on a conversation (what with the strained relations between the Syrians and the Americans). However, there must be some better way of asking a person a question rather than using histrionics, right?

Spare a thought for the CIA guys who may wanna use this course in Guatanamo bay.

CIA interrogator 1: Ente Terroristi.
Arab Terror Suspect: (blank stare)
CIA Interrogator 2: Come on Jack, get the tone right. You don't wanna sound as if you're askin him something. You need to sound more forceful! A more accusative tone!
CIA interrogator 1: Ente Terroristi!
Arab Terror Suspect:(in Arabic) Can I please have some water?
CIA Interrogator 2: Attaboy Jack! He confessed. Let's waterboard him now to see what else he has to say.