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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (129684)	8/4/2005 7:13:17 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793964

Note the curious absence of Urdu and Pushtu, the two most common languages in Pakistan. Pushtu is also the language spoken by the largest minority in Afghanistan (about 40 percent of the population), and the tribes that provide most of the support to the Taliban. Given that the U.S. has been deeply involved in the Middle East for several decades, not to mention having fought a war there in 1990-1991 and another since 2001, or that we've been worried about a war in the Far East for decades now, the figures suggest a distinct failure to have learned the language lesson of Vietnam. I quit reading strategy page. The inaccuracies are too too much for me. SF teaches both languages mentioned.

To: LindyBill who wrote (129684)	8/4/2005 11:12:22 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

The worst client I ever had was a Pushto translator. Turned out he had a felony record for mail fraud, and he got thrown out of the translator's program for falsifying time sheets, plus he committed perjury in court. Now he's back in Afghanistan and he's a big shot. I know other people who speak Urdu, Pushto, Dari and so forth -- has the DOD tried to recruit them, or have they waited for these people to come to them? This week Nicholas got a call from an army recruiter who got his name from the list of high school seniors, and spent a long time on the phone with him, trying to get him to think about enlisting straight out of high school (which we don't think is a good idea. ROTC or after getting at least some college credits so he's not just an E7.) Maybe the DOD recruiters need to go to mosques and community centers? They'd probably have an easier time if they were willing to hire women and older men, I think they'd be more trustworthy. JMHO.