Posted on 12/11/2004 12:16:19 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
PARIS — As a crack interpreter for anti-terrorism investigators, "Wadad" fights the war of the words.
She deciphers North African dialects, Middle Eastern accents and the French Arabic slang of jail yards and housing projects. She braves the crossfire during marathon interrogations of suspected terrorists who snarl at the presence of a female interpreter or recite Koranic verses. She cracks the codes of gunslinger theologians for whom "visiting an aunt" means going to prison and "preparing a marriage" means a suicide attack.
Wadad's job with a French anti-terrorism agency requires the skills of a linguist, a detective, a historian. It requires bleary-eyed hours transcribing wiretaps and documents. It carries huge responsibility: An interpreter can detect an imminent attack, put an innocent man behind bars, make or break a case.
Because of the danger involved, Wadad agreed to provide a glimpse of her secretive world only on the condition that her identity be shielded.
"It's certainly delicate work," she said. "I am completely absorbed by it. I have a passion for it. I am aware of how important it is. I know I don't have the right to make a mistake."
In Europe and especially in the United States, anti-terrorism agencies contend with an acute shortage of Arabic-speaking investigators and translators, say veteran European law enforcement officials. As Western security forces strain to confront and comprehend terrorism by Islamic extremists, one of their greatest challenges is the recruitment of skilled, trustworthy linguists.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I wonder how many Arab Kim Philby's the FBI has hired since 9-11? We will learn over the coming years about how many sleepers are now on our payroll.
If ever there was a field for artificial intelligence, speech recognition and computer translation... the necessary level might be still in the future, but to get the necessary number of TRUSTED and competent humans would take even longer.
There are probably many who are very loyal and very good, although my experience at meetings of translators and interpreters has been rather negative, simply because so many of them (Arab or not) are imbued with the usual old leftist anti-Americanism.
Personally, I think we should get some Israeli interpreters of Arabic involved, at least as "counter balance," but I believe it is forbidden to use them in government work. Stupid policy.
I agree, and it is stupid. Another reason to be wary of islami arab interpreters is that they are very susceptible to "getting the religion" again even years after becoming "moderate." You never know when an arab muslim has "renewed his dedication to true islam" and is willing to operate against the USA and the West. Yesterday's "moderate" muslim is tomorrow's potential jihadist, and there is no way to tell when they have flipped.
Exactly so. We need a man to do McCarthy sort of work to weed them out.
Another hot topic.....as soon as the media gets ahold of it..............
There are probably many who are very loyal and very good, although my experience at meetings of translators and interpreters has been rather negative, simply because so many of them (Arab or not) are imbued with the usual old leftist anti-Americanism.
When recruiting for sensitive positions one HAS to know the personal histories of the respective recruits. I can hazard a few doleful guesses at "Wadad's" background. Coldblooded commonsense tells me that the agencies involved should make an especial targeted outreach effort towards educated arab women fleeing abusive marriages.
I've heard that even the Israelis are having problems in that area being that originally their interpreters/translators were of the generation of sephardic jews who came to Israel during the post-'48 pogroms throughout the arab world (in that small country, jews and arabs live in entirely separate universes, that came home to me when I was reading an obit for old soldier and sabra Rafael "Raful" Eitan). That most university language programs are a farce is not news to me. It was a source of no small embarrassment post 9/11 when it was revealed that the Mormons and various missionary societies had the most robust language training.
Or a hearty lass not squeemish of the rough and tumble.
Yes! I like how you think :-)
I understand that there are now more CIA agents who die each year of natural causes than they bring in as new recruits. There is a serious problem here, and a good deal of it has to do with the lack of young people who are willing to serve this nation in such difficult and thankless jobs. Secondarily.....too many of our young people don't even qualify given the standards of personal integrity, good judgement, patriotism, intellect, work ethic, and lack of criminal record required.
Or lack of armored vehicles.....the media's current campaign.........
Yep....the MSM is too lazy and poorly trained to get to the real issues in this world.
I think they have Evil intent.....
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 by David HorowitzHardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95 In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the ?Great Satan? with America?s radical Islamic enemies. |
I agree. McCarthy was, in substance, correct, as verified by later discoveries.
1. He(and others) did get carried away.
2. He(and some others) were probably set up.
3. We(FR) should be aware that this could happen to us.
4. Regarding your tag line on the Clintons, gee, I just see that as professional courtesy.
"If ever there was a field for artificial intelligence, speech recognition and computer translation... the necessary level might be still in the future, but to get the necessary number of TRUSTED and competent humans would take even longer."
A machine driven program could do a literal translation but that is not what's missing. The things that are missing are such things as voice level, idioms, evolving meanings, etc. I was a very good linguist during the VN war and still am, but while I can converse handily with people in VN, I don't have a chance at understanding their "inside" meanings.
"It was a source of no small embarrassment post 9/11 when it was revealed that the Mormons and various missionary societies had the most robust language training."
I doubt that it compares favorably with the Defense Language Institute and various followup schools in the US Military.
I agree with you that the literal translation is not what is missing - this is what I meant by saying that the necessary level of artificial intelligence sophistication might be well in the future.
What a wonderful thing to say. Thank you very much for the lovely compliment. It's nice to meet you.
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