Major problems cited in Iraq interpreter contract

[babylonsister]

Major problems cited in Iraq interpreter contract

By RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A company with a $4.6 billion contract to supply U.S. forces in Iraq with Arabic-speaking translators received a scathing review on Wednesday from government officials who described tens of millions of dollars in questionable costs and poor management.

The company, Global Linguist Solutions, has not been replaced because there isn't another company readily available to provide the linguists even as the U.S. presence in Iraq is winding down, the officials said at a hearing by the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting.

Federal contracting officers who went to Iraq to examine the company's performance found about $5 million being spent on three-bedroom apartments and automobiles for individual contractor employees, said John Isgrigg, deputy director of contracting at the Army Intelligence and Security Command.

At the same time, the company was slow getting linguists into Iraq, Isgrigg said. GLS is now meeting the required numbers, he said.

Interpreters provide critical links between U.S. troops and foreign populations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet finding steady numbers of translators for troops in foreign war zones has troubled the government for years. At times during the war in Iraq, the U.S. experienced shortages among translators to aid American troops.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_IRAQ_TRANSLATORS?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[izquierdista]

1. "troubled the government for years"

Would those be the same years that Arabic linguists were being discharged left and right because of "don't ask, don't tell"? For only a small consultation fee, I believe I can solve this seemingly intractable problem. :think: