Six of 1,000 speak Arabic fluently at U.S. embassy in Iraq
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.
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