Sunday October 15, 2006

I've Been Thinking:

The Washington Post came out with an alarming statistic.
Of the 12,000 people in the FBI, only 33 of them have any familiarity with Arabic.
And then, just barely.
33 out of 12,000 - shocking, but predictable.
And none of the 33 actually work in counter terror.
What's going on here?

How can you successfully fight terror when you do not understand the language, when you cannot comprehend the culture, of the terrorist?
The FBI argues that when a translator is needed, they can get one in a day.
That is not the point.
This is not about translating a document or interrogating a suspect.
This is about getting into the head of the terrorist.

You cannot successfully fight terror unless you understand the culture of terror, the language of the terrorist, the religion of the organizations.
Language, culture, religion - they are all critical in the fight against terror.

Something is rotten in the Department of Justice.