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Thursday, June 21, 2007

you giant ASSWIPES

perhaps if you didn't KICK PEOPLE WHO SPOKE ARABIC out of the service solely because of their sexual orientation, we wouldn't have such PROBLEMS (problems IS an understatement of course)
U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearing


Slim Chance Of Finding an Arabic Speaker at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad

Jonathan Karl and Maddy Sauer Report:

Of the 1,000 U.S. employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, only 10 have a working knowledge of Arabic, according to the State Department.
That is still a slight improvement from last year when, according to the Iraq Study Group, six people in the embassy spoke Arabic.
A 2006 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report noted the shortage of speakers of Arabic, which the State Department classifies as "superhard," is acute at U.S. embassies in the Muslim world.
The report found that more than one-third of public policy diplomacy positions at Arabic language posts were filled by people who did not speak the language at the designated level.
In April, the director of the International Affairs Office at the GAO said the State Department had started taking action to correct the problems from last year's report.
"State has begun to address these language deficiencies by increasing its overall amount of language training and providing supplemental training for more difficult languages at overseas locations," Jess Ford told the House Committee of Foreign Affairs............


Gay Arabic Translator: "I'm Here, I'm Willing to Serve"

By Adam Howard, AlterNet. Posted June 20, 2007.

Over 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military in the past 14 years because of their sexual orientation. It's time to lift the ban on openly gay people in the military.

Stephen Benjamin describes himself as a "recruiter's dream." He is a highly trained, award-winning Navy Arabic translator who is eager and "willing to serve," yet because of the outdated and discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the U.S. military, he has been discharged and denied the opportunity to serve our country. Celebrated filmmaker Robert Greenwald and his Brave New Foundation, in collaboration with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), hope to set this injustice right with a new campaign being launched at LiftTheBan.org.
"The 'don't ask don't tell policy' is legalized discrimination," said Greenwald. "Stephen Benjamin is the subject of our film, but the problem is a huge disgrace."............

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