Forget speaking with or understanding them.....

An interesting side-bar to the now widely discussed James Baker Iraq Study Group Report.

It is noted in the Report that the US embassy in Baghdad has some 1000 personnel. Of those people only 33 are able to speak or read Arabic - but more critically, only 6 of the 33 are actually fluent in the language. Talk, literally, about a disconnect!

Meanwhile, whilst the Americans seem to view the whole Iraq fiasco from their viewpoint - as also the ISG Report - what does the Iraqi President think about the Report. The NY Times reports:

"The Iraqi president said Sunday the bipartisan U.S. report calling for a new approach to the war offered dangerous recommendations that would undermine his country's sovereignty and were ''an insult to the people of Iraq.''

President Jalal Talabani was the most senior government official to take a stand against the Iraq Study Group report, which has come under criticism from leaders of the governing Shiite and Kurdish parties.

He said the report ''is not fair, is not just, and it contains some very dangerous articles which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and the constitution.''

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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