The U.S. Defense Department is in the market for Arabic
speakers to interrogate suspected Al Qaida insurgents captured in
Afghanistan.
U.S. officials acknowledge that military and intelligence agencies do
not possess a sufficient number of Arabic speakers to conduct interrogations
of those captured in Afghanistan. The result has been poor and insufficient
intelligent information, Middle East Newsline reported.
"It is true that the United States government does not have as many
Arabic speakers as we would wish," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
"We're doing things about that and bringing people back in and borrowing
people from other government entities and using reservists who are being
called up who have that competence."
U.S. law enforcement agencies as well as the Pentagon have advertised
for speakers fluent in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. The latter two are languages
spoken in Iran and Pakistan, respectively.
Rumsfeld said the shortage of Arabic speakers has forced the United
States to use interrogators from other countries. The defense secretary said
Washington required the permission of other countries for the use of their
nationals.
"We are also using interrogators from other countries on occasion when
those countries have indicated a willingness and desire to do so," Rumsfeld
said.
U.S. officials said the need to use American interrogators is vital
because their counterparts in the Middle East use different methods. They
said torture is frequently used by Middle East regimes to elicit
information.
The shortage appears most acute in experienced interrogators and
intelligence officers trained in Pashto or Urdu, languages common in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. In late 2001, officials said, only a handful of
people in U.S. military intelligence could speak these languages.
