The Fallacy of the scarcity of Arabic Speakers. A plot by public agencies.

Submitted by Ynna (United States), Mar 16, 2007 at 21:33

The Translator Scandal

ACT members respond and demand action

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The FBI Translator Scandal

ACT members respond and demand action

By Jerry Gordon

Last Thursday, Brigitte Gabriel and I put out an Action Alert to the American Congress for Truth membership, asking you for examples of how our government rebuffed your valued assistance as Arabic and Farsi linguists for critical intelligence translation work assignments in military, foreign and homeland security agencies.

In less than 72 hours were got dozens of responses and they are still coming in.

While a sampling they are nevertheless indicative of your concerns about why our government persists in denial of loyal American citizens offering to reduce the mountainous backlog of untranslated intercepts and transcripts of interrogations in Arabic and Farsi, in particular.

How mountainous is the backlog of untranslated intercepts? Read this comment from a National Security Agency (NSA) official quoted from Congressional hearings in a Washington Times article on the subject written by Rowan Scarborough and Bill Gertz entitled:"Intelligence backlog."

NSA director, Army Lt. Gen. Keith in commenting in written response to Senators on the large backlog of time consuming labor intensive foreign language intercepts on terrorism noted:

"Today's backlog is no longer confined to Arabic and its multiple dialect but also less commonly taught languages where linguists are in short supply."

One knowledgeable insider in our national security apparatus wrote in response to the ACT action alert:

'The fact that the FBI and the military don't have enough linguists/translators especially after 9/11 is a disgrace and the fact that those they have are possibly not reliable or trustworthy makes it imperative that new competent resources are found .."

Imagine that you are a Marine Corps battalion commander in Anbar province in western Iraq-hotbed of the Sunni and al Qaeda insurgency. You find out from your G-2 via counter intelligence operatives that the local interpreters procured through a contract let via a major defense contractor have been feeding intel to these insurgent groups. You're darn angry because this has cost you casualties and in some instances lives of brave Marines in your field units. What do you do besides complain to the theater ground commander and higher intelligence echelons at CENTCOMM.

As we have found out in our inquiries to our ACT members we have an overwhelming response that includes first rate Arab and Farsi linguists who are Middle Eastern Christians, Jews and apostate Muslims disappointed that their talents have gone wanting because of political correctness and frankly outright intimidation by Muslim linguists in our security agencies.

Here are some examples of the responses received from ACT members and others to date. I will begin with Brigitte Gabriel's experience. She is one of many Christian Lebanese who tried to help but got no where.

Brigitte Gabriel, ACT founder, Lebanese Christian.

Brigitte applied three times to the FBI in 2001 and 2002 VOLUNTEERING her services to help translate, in whatever capacity she could be used, to help our country in the fight against terrorism. She never got an answer. Finally the Government sent her a government application that stated that translators must be between the age of 25 and 35, (she had just turned 36), must have graduated with a degree in the language they wish to apply to translate and must have three years on job experience as translators. (utterly ridiculous bureaucracy) Meanwhile complaining on TV that they do not have enough translators.

Brigitte Gabriel speaks not only the classical Arabic which is the official language of all the Middle East, but also the local dialects, Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Palestinian, and Jordanian.

From an Iraqi Christian.

"I applied twice for the FBI. I never got an answer from them. I heard that the Recruiters are Egyptians and want translators with an Egyptian dialect. I don't know if religion is a factor, but I've given up. I think it will be very intimidating under these circumstances. By the way I'm an Iraqi Christian living in the U.S. I worked as a linguist for the U.S. Army in Iraq."

From a Lebanese American Christian.

"I was deployed from Ft. Benning, Georgia in May, 2003 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Supporting our armed forces and intelligence units. In October 2004, I was injured by a suicide bomb blast inside the Green Zone [in Baghdad]. I had to come back for treatment. A year ago I was released by all doctors and they recommended that I could go back to work, but not in Iraq. I called my employer and to my amazement they offered me a job back in Iraq but not a stateside one because I lacked a security clearance. I refused and they sent me a letter in January, 2006 laying me off. I have tried in vain to find a job with the government or defense contractors. The recruiters are usually Muslim and some have told me that they have relatives working for al Jazeera TV. Can you believe that!

From a Persian American Jew

I volunteered to help with Farsi translations. I heard back from them that they were interested in my Hebrew skills!! I didn't see how Hebrew came into the equation with dealing with our country's dangers. The response was very bureaucratic in nature. I have since done Farsi translation for a private think tank.

From a Coptic Christian American

"I am a Christian Egyptian who applied for a linguist position with the FBI after 9/11, went through the testing process and was sent a rejection letter. I would love to contribute to your cause, if I can be of assistance."

Rejection of American Israeli citizens

"I know personally of such a case where a loyal American applied for such service and got nowhere. This American Israel Jew got the same treatment. He is young, intelligent eastern looking guy who could make a real contribution to the efforts. Something funny is going on."

What these ACT responses do is to resonate previous reports of bias against Middle Eastern Christians, Jews and apostate Muslims chronicled in reports from WorldNetDaily about discrimination against American Israeli linguists and by investigative authors Rita Katz - an Iraq born American Jew - in her book "Terrorist Hunter" and Paul Sperry in his engrossing book "Infiltration."

So what is ACT going to do now that we have lifted the veil on this burgeoning scandal? Plenty.

Working with key House and Senate National and Homeland Security Committees we are going to push for following:

A GAO audit of major defense contractors supplying in-country interpreters at egregious billing rates running as high at $100,000 annually versus $30,000 for a military trained linguist interpreter;

• We are going to file under the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) a request for information from military, foreign and domestic intelligence agencies that includes the annexed information.

• We are going to hold a Washington Summit for ACT members to discuss this issue and more as part of a major agenda for action;

• We are going to request hearings on the translator 'scandal' from Senate and House National and Homeland Security Committees.

• We will assist these subject matter Committees on Capitol Hill in the review and preparation of remedial legislation and executive actions to bring the translator scandal to heel, so that our troops in the field and our citizens at home aren't in jeopardy of a major series of 9/11 Islamist terrorist attacks.

Act will need your help in reaching out to those of you who are U.S. citizens to get to your Congressional representatives and Bush Administration officials demanding their attention to this problem.

Keep those emails coming! They are grist for the mill and build an effective case for immediate attention to this problem. A problem that needs resolution now if this nation is to be secure. A problem that is compounded by political correctness and intimidation by American Muslim advocacy groups.

We will continue to monitor your emails and report back on developments on this issue as they emerge. Rest assured that ACT is going to make this a 'cause' that will resound in the halls of Congress and the mainstream media.

Thank you for telling it like it is. With your support ACT will win this battle!

Proposed Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

Information Request

U.S. Security Hiring Practices

of

Arabic, Farsi, Turkic and Urdu

Translators and Analysts

Census of Qualified Translators Employed;

1. Demographics

Number in staff

Age, Sex, Ethnicity, Religious affiliation

Citizenship: U.S. / if non U.S., country of origin

Educational attainment: high school, college/university/graduate school

Language training: formal college/university or military language programs, others

Military rank or GS- pay grades

Years of service/experience

Location: U.S. -national /regional offices

Abroad: Countries where currently deployed

1. Recruitment policies and programs

Current and project staffing requirements

Career development programs in language and area studies

University language and NSEP programs

Military language programs

Community outreach programs

Foreign sourcing programs

Standardized language testing

Candidate screening criteria

Candidate Acceptance rejection rates by ethnicity and religious affiliation

1. Target language translation and analysis requirements

Current level of translation needs - number of lines of original language texts or message transmissions for translation

Number of assigned language translator/analysts

Current level of translation reports and output - number of lines of texts and message transmissions

Backlog deficit of un-translated lines of texts and message transmissions

Contract language translation services - volume and extent of procurement, domestic U.S. versus foreign providers

Machine language translation augmentation and support-availability, uses and quality of output.

Language translation program development and initiatives

History of programs-pre and post 9/11

Objectives of programs vis a vis support of domestic and international security

Interim Remedial adjustments vis a vis program recruitment, staffing

Future program initiatives to cover current language translation deficits

www.americancongressfortruth.org

Subject: The FBI Translator Scandal Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:30:36 -0500

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