Over at ABC’s Poltical Radar blog, David Wright reported Barack Obama’s disoriented comments on manpower needs in Afghanistan. As I noted earlier, Obama complained of the lack of Arabic translators duing Obama’s appearance eariler this week in Cape Girardeau. Wright points out that Arabic is not a native language of Afghanistan.
I take Obama’s comments as indicative of the improvisised nature of his superficially sophisticated critique of the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the update to the original post, however, Obama spokesman Bill Burton actually defends the Obama’s statement by citing the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan. Wright responds:
As for the point about Arabic translators needed for Afghanistan, the Obama campaign points to the well-documented presence of foreign fighters there, many of whom do speak Arabic. However, these folks are mostly shooting at NATO troops, not talking to them.
No doubt there are a handful of Arabic speakers employed at Bagram and Kandahar and other detention centers to interrogate foreign fighters captured on the battlefield. But I have not seen any reports that there is a shortage of such personnel, or that the need for such translators in Iraq has hamstrung the interrogators in Afghanistan.
To the charge that Obama is a remarkably naive, inexperienced, and unknowlegeable candidate to fill the position of Commander-in-Chief, we can add a count that he is unserious as well.
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