Factual error: When Eleanor Shaw tries to convince other members of the senate to choose her son as a candidate for vice president, a map of the fifty states and their corresponding electoral votes can be seen. The map shows Colorado as having 3 electoral votes and Wyoming having 8. Wyoming should have 3 and Colorado 9.
Factual error: Major Marco's uniform in early shots has a Special Forces tab on the left breast pocket. This doesn't appear later. Also, this tab should only appear on the dress blues, where shoulder insignia are not worn.
Factual error: One of the Gulf War scenes shows Marco and Shaw's armored vehicles in the Kuwaiti desert with a skyline of burning oil wells in the background. We later hear that this sequence is set during a reconnaissance in Iraqi-controlled territory just before Desert Storm. Saddam's troops only set fire to oil fields during the end of Desert Storm as they were retreating from Kuwait.
Chosen answer: The tattooed woman was something that they all dreamt about. She was significant to the capture and the tattoos stood out among all of the other arabs.
Toolio
I always felt they were just there to cause confusion. If they started to remember the image of the Arab woman/ women would sound and look crazy trying to explain. However later in the movie when they shoulder flash backs the women were not there and Shaw choked out that other guy but, early the Arab women where there, and he had plastic on his face choking him out. So, all the memories are mixed up.