Reply #131: McKeown1128, no one is disagreeing with you on a shortage of

[wmbrew0206]

Arabic, Dari or Pashtu linguists.

What I am disagreeing with you on is whether there is a shortage of Arabic linguists in Afghanistan. "There is a shortage of Arabic linguists in Afghanistan because of Iraq." This is the statement Obama made and a lot people here are disputing that statement.

Lets make sure we distinguish between translator and linguist. A translator is a local who can speak English and the native language and has no security clearance (CAT I) normally used by troops to communicate with the locals. Linguists are: a US citizen who can speak the local language but is not a member of the government with a secret clearance (CAT II), or a US citizen who can speak the local language and is part of the US government, both are used to for intel purposes.

If you or your spouse have been to Monterey than you obviously have some experience with intel collection. The type of collection that most Arabic is gathered from in Afghanistan does not have a lack of Arabic linguists. There isn't a lot of it and it can be handled by the Arabic linguists assigned to handle it.

There isn't a need for an Arabic CAT II or III linguist to go out on patrols with troops because anyone in Afghanistan who's primary language is Arabic is going to be shooting at troops, not talking to them. Yes, Afghanis speak some Arabic because that is how they say their Islamic prayers, but it doesn't mean that is how they communicate with each other. They also speak Punjab, Urdu, and several other languages but we don't need people who speak that.