The Washington Post reports today that only 33 out of 12000 FBI agents have even a glancing knowledge of Arabic. This is one of those yawn stories. Yeah, yeah, we all know that Americans are bad with languages and can't find France on a map and can't divide 4 by 2. I watch Leno, too.
We've all heard the stories about all the American ambassadors who don't know the language of the country to which they're assigned. Yeah, I read The Ugly American in high school, too. We're arrogant and inept and that's why we keep getting into so much trouble. Old story.
Still true, of course, but it's an old story.
But it make you wonder--the President is busy accusing everyone who opposes the Patriot Act or illegal wiretapping of "not wanting to listen to the terrorists," well, it turns out that we actually can't listen to the terrorists.
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