Prosecutors say Army translator from Brooklyn had links to Iraqi insurgency

AP ^ | November 7 2005 | MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

[jmc1969]

NEW YORK -- An Arabic interpreter for the Army may have secretly helped Iraqi insurgents by improperly taking classified documents from Iraq home to Brooklyn, where he made dozens of phone calls to numbers linked to the insurgency, a federal prosecutor said Monday.

The man's attorney said he simply had been maintaining innocent relationships with Iraqi contacts approved by his military supervisors.

After returning to the U.S. earlier this year, the man had more than 100 cell phone conversations with numbers directly involved with the insurgency, Buretta said, including numbers found at suspected safehouses for Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.

[samadams2000]

OMG.....we will never learn.

[Danae]

Don't they do background checks on interpreters???

[BinaryBoy]

The man was charged last month with falsifying his identity when he entered the United States seeking political asylum between 1978 and 1989.

He only wants to help the terrorists we don't want to help.

[Americanexpat]

Sounds like a spy to me, shoot him.

[Right Wing Assault]

I think we were so desperate for Arabic translators, we would have taken anyone but OBL.

[Dog]

OMG he had the cell phone number for Zarqawi.

[Gay State Conservative]

If he's guilty,he deserves a 21 gun salute...aimed at the bridge of his nose.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

launch him from a catapult on the jersey shoreline pointed towards mecca.

[river rat]

What's the problem?

Charge him, try him and if guilty -- shoot him.

Semper Fi

[Buffettfan]

Take him outback and put six in his head......NOW!

[JSteff]

"If he's guilty,he deserves a 21 gun salute...aimed at the bridge of his nose."

No, he is a traitor and a spy. Shooting is too good. He needs to be hung like a common criminal.

[CondorFlight]

And after 911, the story is that the FBI translators--Arabs--had a little celebration in their office in Washington.

Later, when the FBI advertised for Arabic speakers in New York, some 90 Yeminite Jews responded. They knew the language and the culture and the idioms, etc. But the FBI wouldn't hire one of them. (I guess the Saudis would object.)

So we are stuck with double-minded translators.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[jmc1969]

Its pretty damn sad that Zarqawi has been getting military updates from inside the US and from classified coalition documents.

[Grut]

OMG.....we will never learn.

Learn what? Remember the Moslem chaplain at Guantanamo the Army charged with stealing classified documents, who turned out to be innocent? How about learning that 'charged' isn't 'proved'?

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

--------------

OK, this isn't good, but the FBI dodged a bullet. Imagine what could have happened if they'd hired Jews!

FBI: Jews Need Not Apply For Arabic Linguist Jobs

[SJackson]

Don't they do background checks on interpreters???

Yes, of course. See post 17. That's why we don't hire arabic speaking Jews.

[SJackson]

I think we were so desperate for Arabic translators, we would have taken anyone but OBL.

No, we wouldn't. We turned down Jewish translators by the hundred. See post 17.

[gaijin]

Related:

Farah Aideed of Somalia had a son who was a city clerk in LONG BEACH, CA. This son was also a USMC reservist. The son was called to duty when his unit was sent to Somalia, and he did desert his MC duties, joining one of the local warlord clans...

Just some related trivia for you, there...

[sarasmom]

DING DING DING!
I was denied my initial "guaranteed" linguistic USAF specialty training because I was female, and "cultural issues" prevailed, under Carter.

I doubt the feds got much smarter about how much "cultural deference" was due a future threat to our nation, even at the highest levels of security.

Oh well.

[Mr. Jazzy]

Could be EXACTLY the reason he was let go with this information, to track the big fish with a little fish.


Our guys can screw up with the best of them, but consider the fact that there have been "0" successful attacks on the US mainland since September 11 2001, and don't think that the bad guys haven't been trying.


Remember, the bad guys are not ALL super intelligent evil geniuses. They can get suckered punched, too.

[lancer]

He needs to be hung like a common criminal.

He may well be hung like a common criminal, but I say he should be hanged like a common criminal.

Makes all the difference...(:-)

[bdfromlv]

feed to pigs and bury in the waste pit. but dont torture him with panties on his head or cair and aclu will sue.

[lancer]

That's why we don't hire arabic speaking Jews.

Makes sense if you don't think about it...

[Alexander Rubin]

I believe they used to have a policy in place for people like him: three in the heart, three in the head and a blank. Have a nice day.

[weegee]

Zero? What was anthrax? Atta's final strike?

What about the "lone nuts" at the LAX counter, the Tampa Teen, the DC Sniper Duo, the Shoe Bomber, assorted dead microbiologists and suspect plane crashes?

[VeniVidiVici]

I was denied my initial "guaranteed" linguistic USAF specialty training because I was female, and "cultural issues" prevailed, under Carter.

I think many agree that they sometimes suffer from cranial-rectal inversion when it comes to this.

I had friend at DLI, guy was a native Ukranian speaker - attending Korean school.

Another was a native Spanish speaker, Castillian, sent him to Arabic school. I don't recall him ever using Arabic other than for training.