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Sorry to hear that the comments are getting to you. It's something we all deal with in one way or another. I am primarily northern Germanic ancestry with some Gaelic and Slavic admixture. I have fairly light skin but very dark hair. I still get occasional comments about ethnicity. Lots of times it's people kidding around, saying things like "Hey Abdullah" or "Bin Laden". Sometimes it's just an honest mistake on the part of a stranger who's curious because my longer beard is not "the norm" in American culture.

In the past, I've had a few black folks tell me I look just like Abe Lincoln. I don't think I look anything like Lincoln. My beard's not even close, and anyone who paid the least attention to beard styles would see I have a full moustache and Lincoln did not. It's just that those who don't have much cultural exposure to beards, are blind to such nuances: A beard is a beard is a beard to them.

I really don't care. Like Kramer, I find the strange conclusions that people sometimes draw to be very humorous.

Perhaps the Iraqis saying you're one of them is a way of paying you a compliment of sorts, since they would obviously have lots of exposure to beards in their culture. I've had Sikhs take interest in and talk to me about my beard before.

Try to learn to just laugh it off or use it as a moment to enlighten people and spread the beard-gospel. It's a shame that in this day and age, beards are not truly appreciated in the Western world and are instead relegated to stereotypes of minority groups. The more those of us of European-descent choose to grow and maintain beards, the more universal beard growing will become. By growing beards, we are helping to put an end to such stereotyping, which IMO is a good thing, for all parties concerned.