Out of 1000 employees at the US embassy in Baghdad, only 6 are fluent in Arabic and only 33 know the language at all. If Iraq really was the central front in the "war on terror," and if the Bush administration really was fighting extremist "ideologies" (typically expressed in language and culture), then wouldn't you expect US officials there to know the language? I don't mean to take anything away from the foreign service professionals serving our country under dangerous circumstances. I just can't imagine what their superiors are thinking.
Nor can I. Competence was never a hallmark of this administration.
H/T to Juan Cole.
1 comment:
ahhh..... Juan Cole, America hater and anti-Semite extraordinaire!
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