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| Lawyers Criticize Quality of Guantanamo Interpreters |
| 2008-10-15 |
| Something was being lost in interpretation. Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a Saudi national accused of war crimes and murder for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was speaking in Arabic. Ralph H. Kohlmann, a Marine colonel and military judge at Guantanamo Bay, was listening to a simultaneous interpretation in English. At a recent pretrial hearing, Hawsawi, according to his military lawyer, wanted to discuss the potential responsibilities of his attorneys and the implications of representing himself before the military commission. Those in the courtroom, however, often heard head-scratching sentences such as, "In the beginning of the timing of the laws, I said there is no difficulties base." A linguist working with Hawsawi's team later estimated that half of what the defendant said was rendered incorrectly by court interpreters and that Hawsawi didn't understand at least 25 percent of what was said in English. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Another example of goal post moving. I suppose the coffee is sub-standard as well. Do not be mislead by the BS claims of these defense attorneys. Any excuse, however tangential, will be wielded as a weapon to undermine our country. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2008-10-15 09:55 |
| #5 Dirka dirka dirka dirka dirka Mohammed. So what did he say? Dirka dirka dirka dirka dirka Mohammed. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-10-15 09:52 |
| #4 7 years since 9/11 and still no big push to train and deploy interpreters of the languages of our enemies. A critical lack of effort on our part. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2008-10-15 09:20 |
| #3 too be some die hard jihadist they sure bitch and whine alot |
| Posted by: chris 2008-10-15 09:13 |
| #2 ...And who, pray tell, monitors the quality of the interpreters given to the 9/11 victims? sarc/off Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-10-15 05:25 |
| #1 "I'm innocent!" translated into: "I admit I killed them" Hey this will only save time |
| Posted by: Jan 2008-10-15 00:54 |