[goldstategop]

What's in them? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Lion's Cub]

Kind of odd that they haven't developed software to translate them if interpretors are such a problem. At least they could get the basic gist of a tape and then have the human translators review them based on an assigned priority.

[mn12]

What makes this especially interesting is that just after 9/11, the FBI advertised a hotline on all the major news channels. They were asking for help in translating documents, etc. from anyone who knew Arabic and/or Farsi.

My boss knows both languages and wanted to help. He called the hotline immediately after seeing it, but was told that they had enough translators already. So, why are they suddenly unable to translate these documents now??

[sakic]

This is a bogus NY Post story. In October the New Yorker magazine went into great detail about this. There's nothing new in this article but the stupid Post wanted a chance to say "Exclusive". They love that word.

[ChadGore]

What's on tha tapes?

Ali Baba only had 39 theives.

[remaininlight]

I can just see some of these translators not being loyal to the United States and leaking info to the terrorists. What a mess.

[patriciaruth]

In his speech on the root cause of terrorism being liberal ineptness, David Horowitz mentioned a couple of facts. Universities banned the CIA from recruiting on campus during jobs fair weeks. Language departments have been co-opted by liberals sympathetic to terrorist groups, and have discouraged or prevented more patriotic people from obtaining degrees, advancement in this field, and doing this kind of work for the government.

[Eugene Tackleberry]

"463 contract translators who work up to 16 hours a day at a cost of $15 million per year"

= $32,000 per year per translator for a 16 hour day - probably with no health or other benefits since they are "contract". Maybe they need to pay better.

[RFP]

"...In all of New York, there's only one Fukinese...interpreter..."

That's strange. I thought that was New York's native language. Ever hear of a New York echo? "Hello..."..."Shut the F*** Up!"

[ppaul]

The Arab/Islamic threat has been well known for years - yet the FBI never bothered to hire and train personnel to deal with it?
Heads need to roll somewhere. Hopefully, President Bush is fixin' to do some choppin'.

[Ronin]

What a mess. I am sure Shinbet has a great deal of experience and a huge pool of reliable translators that they would have willingly seconded to the U.S. if requested.

I grow more disgusted with the Fearless Band of Idiots every day.

[Redbob]

Maybe you could help me with translating something into Arabic, to put on a 'T'-shirt?

Does anyone know how to write (?)
"Eat More Pork!"
in Arabic?

[Redbob]

In the meantime, and just for fun, you can always go to
Understanding Islam
and let 'em know what you think on their guestbook!

[RightWhale]

"People have been talking for years about how inept the United States has been in terms of language,"

We don't need to know anything besides English, most of the world speaks English, right? If you want to study a foreign language, it's Spanish or nothing. That's not really a foreign language, though, is it.

[lavaroise]

There are thousands of Christian arabs who are working at Mc Donalds who could do that job, but, knowing the FBI, they probably don't fit the psychological "profile".