The All-Too Obvious Question ...

[NanceGreggs]

... which I have yet to hear asked about the wire-tapping controversy:

WHERE ARE ALL OF THE TRANSLATORS COMING FROM?

We've heard plenty about data mining, about certain key words or phrases raising 'red flags' requiring further investigation.

We've also heard (for several years now) that there is an incredible shortage of translators who can translate Arabic, and other ME languages and dialects.

Is the data-mining being done in English? Are the wire-tappers listening in on English conversations?

If you were a member of Al Qeada, or an 'affiliate' or 'sympathizer', would you - KNOWING THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF TRANSLATORS - conduct your telephone conversations in English? If your first language (and perhaps ONLY language) was Arabic, and your friends or family members in the States were also less proficient in English than their native tongue, would you discuss anything - even your counsin's wedding plans - in English, no less the nuances necessary to transmit a clandestine message?

Just wonderin' ...

[AtomicKitten]

1. they fired a number of gay translators.

not too bright, eh?

[NanceGreggs]

3. Yeah, great timing!

[LSparkle]

2. Ask Sibel Edmonds what she thinks ...

I wonder what happens to translations that don't yield what the Admin is looking for (and to the translators who produce them)....

[NanceGreggs]

4. Their reports probably go into the same file ...

... along with pre-Iraq War intelligence reports that said Hussein didn't have WMDs, there would be an insurgiency, the war would NOT pay for itself, et cetera.

In other words, the nearest trash can.

[EC]

5. Good question... n/t