CIA goes hiring in heart of Arab America

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov 27 (Reuters) - At Tuhama's Lebanese deli in Dearborn, and at bakeries and barbershops throughout town, it's no secret the CIA is looking for a few good spies.

"There is a lot of talk, and nobody likes it," said Hamze Chehade, a 48-year-old Lebanese-American, taking a bite of his chicken shawarma.

In dire need of agents fluent in Arabic, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has made an unusual public show of its recruiting effort in Dearborn -- a city of 100,000 with the densest Arab population in the United States.

The agency has bought full-page ads in Arabic-language newspapers and it is rolling out TV ads aimed at luring Arab-Americans and Iranian-Americans to spycraft.

But despite a weak economy and high unemployment, the CIA will find it hard to hire here, residents say. Many see U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as misguided and anger over the perceived mistreatment of Arab-Americans runs deep.

It won't be easy to win hearts and minds here, they say.

"If anyone goes, they would be just going for the money, not following the heart," said Chehade, a cabinet-maker who immigrated from Lebanon 21 years ago.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2432103320091127?sp=true

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if the CIA had not been so completely FUBAR for the past 8+ years, this would not be

1) necessary

2) a problem

[onager]

1. As a former resident of 2 Arab countries...

I'd like to think the CIA/govt. knows what it's doing.

Cough... (remembering the US Army fired a bunch of its Arab linguists strictly because they were gay.)

But it's not enough just to "speak Arabic." Like every other language on earth, Arabic has an infinite variety of dialects, slang, etc. Wherever you are, the locals know in about 2 seconds if you are an outsider, since people tend to speak the form of the language they grew up with.

Bad airport adventure novels (of which I have read many) often use the dodge of the hero knowing "great street Arabic." But street Arabic also varies.

e.g., I just spent nearly 4 years in Egypt. One day we needed to call a tech support phone line that was allegedly based in Egypt. I asked an Egyptian co-worker to make the call.

When he hung up, he said: "Those engineers I just talked to are not Egyptians. They're from somewhere in the Gulf. Probably Kuwait."

AFAIK, there really is no "regular Arabic." There's classical Arabic, but that's mostly used by scholars and theologians. Show up on the streets of Cairo or Riyadh speaking classical Arabic, and the locals will look at you the same way a modern New Yorker would if you popped up in Manhattan asking directions in Shakespearean English.

[EFerrari]

2. The CIA has been FUBAR since its inception. It's more like a crime syndicate

than a security agency.

[bobthedrummer]

3. It has many OC "assets", that is what the Agency has done since its foundation

and BUSH/CHENEY exponentially increased the evil hidden behind the "national security" shield.

K&R

[peacetalksforall]

4. "It's more like a crime syndicate than a security agency." The truth. Utter truth.

Starting with lies and hypocrisy all the way trough to illegal drugs and the nuclear trade and protecting and partnering with those who are criminals.

Essentially - for the Barons.

[WileEcoyote]

5. I don't normally "ditto" posts,

but yours is the exception.

We need more discussion of the CIA, and the shadow hidden government it represents. Even Noam Chomsky has been AWOL on this one.

CIA operatives have been chosen because mommy and daddy went to Yale. And now they suddenly want better Arabic speaking linemen?

[Sebastian Doyle]

7. It's always been a subdivision of a crime syndicate

namely, the Bush Crime Family.

[Alcibiades]

6. "taking a bite of his chicken shawarma"

You can tell the bias of the reporter because he stereotypes Lebanese as eating chicken schwarma.

I wonder, if the quote were from a "regular American" who happened to be eating a hamburger, would the reporter feel the need to mention that?