Army fires gay Arab linguists

How can the US make any credible claims that it is fighting the terrorist threat with all available means when this sort of crap happens?

Nine Army linguists, including six trained to speak Arabic, have been dismissed from the military because they are gay.

The soldiers' dismissals come at a time when the military is facing a critical shortage of translators and interpreters for the war on terrorism.

[...]

The government has aggressively recruited Arabic speakers since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We face a drastic shortage of linguists, and the direct impact of Arabic speakers is a particular problem," said Donald R. Hamilton, who documented the need for more linguists in a report to Congress as part of the National Commission on Terrorism.

Crazy...

Posted November 15, 2002 08:10 AM | Comments (87)