Does Anyone Here Speak Arabic?

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.

As Tony Snow says, "“[Y]ou don’t snap your fingers and have the Arabic speakers you need overnight.”

Actually, if Bush were willing to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he could have more Arabic speakers overnight.

Personally, I think Berry Goldwater had it right about gays in the military when he said, "You don't need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight."

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is certainly working well for us. Glad we've at least got our priorities straight.