WASHINGTON — After more than three years in their country, the U.S.
military still can't understand Iraqis.
The Iraq Study Group said the lack of Arabic speakers has hurt U.S.
intelligence collection and analysis. The bipartisan panel said the U.S.
military and government rely too much on non-U.S. translators, who fail to
provide context.
"As an intelligence analyst told us, 'We rely too much on others to
bring information to us, and too often don't understand what is reported
back because we do not understand the context of what we are told,'" the
report said.
ISG said the U.S. embassy, with 1,000 staffers, has only a handful of
fluent Arabic speakers. The embassy has 33 Arabic speakers, with six of them
fluent.
"In a conflict that demands effective and efficient communication with
Iraqis, we are often at a disadvantage," the report said. "There are still
far too few Arab language-proficient military and civilian officers in Iraq,
to the detriment of the U.S. mission."
The report said the United States faces great difficulties in recruiting
civilians to work in Iraq. ISG cited the dangers of working in
insurgency-ridden Iraq.
"All of our efforts in Iraq, military and civilian, are handicapped by
Americans' lack of language and cultural understanding," the report said.
"The CIA should provide additional personnel in Iraq to develop and train an
effective intelligence service and to build a counterterrorism intelligence
center that will facilitate intelligence-led counterterrorism efforts."
ISG said the Bush administration must launch a crash program to train
and send Arabic speakers to Iraq. The report said the Defense Department,
State Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
should "accord the highest possible priority to professional language
proficiency and cultural training, in general and specifically for U.S.
officers and personnel about to be assigned to Iraq."
The lack of Arabic skills has also hampered U.S. military
counter-insurgency operations in Iraq. The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence
Agency has fewer than 10 analysts with more than two years of experience
assigned to the insurgency. The report said U.S. intelligence has been
hampered by the rotation of capable analysts.
"A senior commander told us that human intelligence in Iraq has improved
from 10 percent to 30 percent," ISG said. "Clearly, U.S. intelligence
agencies can and must do better. An essential part of better intelligence
must be improved language and cultural skills."
