I was confused that it took so many days to translate, and was shouted down that this was serious work. When I graduated from DLI, we were allowed only seconds to translate aural text - which is quite a bit easier than literature. Of course, one has to know the dialects and slang, which would not be a problem with Osama speaking Arabic to his cohorts.
I lived in Germany for 6 years, and know the scheisse they make up in their anti-US press. The only paper worth reading over there is Die Bild, and only for the naked chix on page 3.