Saddam planned to deploy 'camels of mass destruction' -Freeper translation

[Barrett808]

Saddam planned to deploy 'camels of mass destruction'
By James Langton
(Filed: 26/03/2006)

Saddam Hussein planned to use "camels of mass destruction" as weapons to defend Iraq, loading them with bombs and directing them towards invading forces.

The animals were part of a plan to arm and equip foreign insurgents drawn up by the dictator shortly before the American-led invasion three years ago, reveals a 37-page report, captured after the fall of Baghdad and just released by the Pentagon. It is part of a cache of thousands of documents that the United States Department of Defence says it does not have the resources to translate.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon released copies in the original Arabic onto the internet in the hope that others would interpret them into English.

Handwritten on official paper, one of the reports appears to be a road map for the insurgency, with detailed instructions for training what it calls suicide bombers.

In the memo, they are described as "estishehadeyeen", Arabic for suicide martyrs, and would almost certainly have been foreign volunteers.

...

The papers have been translated by Arabic-speaking members of Free Republic, a conservative internet discussion forum that believes the documents will justify British and American claims that Saddam had made Iraq a haven for terrorists.

(more)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/26/wsaddam26.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/26/ixworld.html

So the government is leaving translation up to Freepers? WTF?

[5X]

1. Why don't they just quote The Onion and call it news. n/t

[struggle4progress]

19. Unfortunately, this is often typical of The Telegraph as a news source.

[acmavm]

2. This is by far the most ignorant 'theory' that they've come up with so

far. And this is from the Freepers. Like there's any credibility there.

[redphish]

4. Man, you know there's a real guvment intelligence porblem...

when they have to rely on freepers for an expert opinion. WTF

:rofl:

[54anickel]

3. This scheme to distract is so lame. Are we to believe this secretive

mal-admin would put shit out there that they had not already gone over with a fine-tooth comb? Nice to see the Freepers are wasting their time with it, though I don't think they were the intended target of "Operation Mass-Distraction".

[LynnTheDem]

5. ROTFLMAO!!! btw MFing stupid freeper, BOMBS are NOT "wmd"

And Iraq was ALLOWED to have conventional weapons, such as bombs. You incredibly stupid MFer.

Freeping rightwingnuts; the DUMBEST MFers on the entire planet. THERE IS NO DOUBT.

[napi21]

8. THAT'S part of the problem! Some people don't know what

a WMD IS! I've heard them on cspan WJ. They talk about roadside bombs, suicide bombers, and everything else as being WMD's.

[Rose Siding]

6. Isn't repelling invading forces a govt's......job?

[William Seger]

38. Of course

"...a conservative internet discussion forum that believes the documents will justify British and American claims that Saddam had made Iraq a haven for terrorists."

Fukkin idiots on a "conservative internet discussion forum" will never understand that it was George W. Bush** who made Iraq a haven for terrorists -- just like everyone with any common sense predicted.

[ThoughtCriminal]

7. Psst.. Saddam also planned to use guns to defend Iraq

Guns that use the same kind of bullets often used by terrorists.

Once again, freepers find the smoking gun.:eyes:

[LynnTheDem]

13. GUNS??! With real BULLETS??! Oh my gawd! Now I agree w BUSH!

Why them low-down dirty Iraqis, how DARED they plan to use GUNS!!!

WMD!!! WMD!!!

:rofl:

[MnFats]

20. they found kitchen matches and an old Zippo lighter, too.

The search for cherry bombs and roman candles goes on....

[LynnTheDem]

22. Oh geeeez! I was wrong all this time. Iraq is LOADED with wmd! MATCHES?

Cherry bombs and roman candles likely??!

I need to go prey to bush-Gawd for forgiveness...

Heh. :D

[Cocoa]

9. are they going to deploy them here too?

if I see a camel should I report it? :scared:

[LynnTheDem]

14. rotflmao!!!!

:rofl:

[Thor_MN]

29. Clearly we need to increase security around our zoos.

[Faygo Kid]

10. More proof against evolution, I see.

Not sure how, but everything posted there is proof against evolution. Are these evolved camels?

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/2.asp

[progressivebydesign]

11. wait.. doesn't the us military use dolphins? n/t

[johnaries]

12. They are just imitating DARPA.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808342.stm

WWII: Attach a bomb to a cat and drop it from a dive-bomber on to Nazi ships. The cat, hating water, will "wrangle" itself on to enemy ship's deck. In tests cats became unconscious in mid-air
WWII: Attach incendiaries to bats. Induce hibernation and drop them from planes. They wake up, fly into factories etc and blow up. Failed to wake from hibernation and fell to death
Vietnam War: Dolphins trained to tear off diving gear of Vietcong divers and drag them to interrogation, sources linked to the programme say. Syringes later placed on dolphin flippers to inject carbon dioxide into divers, who explode. US Navy has always denied using mammals to harm humans

[dogday]

15. It's the old light the camel fart and get an explosive

theory... Camels make methane gas, a little flame and it can go a long way... :rofl:

[LynnTheDem]

23. ROTFLMAO!!!

Agent 86, I do believe you're in the right on this one!

:rofl:

[buff2]

16. ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

Those morons are some real huge NUTCASES. They will spread all kinds of manure to try to prove themselves right,when everyone else with a working brain knows they are always WRONG! LOL

[Stockholm]

17. And just as you thought they could not get any dumber

Screening function at Telegraph out of order or did they just hire Dumbaneck?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. Saddam himself drew up the plans?

"The animals were part of a plan to arm and equip foreign insurgents drawn up by the dictator shortly before the American-led invasion three years ago..."

do we need any more evidence that this looney old man was no threat to us?

[tenshi816]

21. Freepers can barely translate English.

I'm having a really hard time believing any of them are fluent in Arabic.

[LynnTheDem]

25. They aren't. Couple weeks ago they "translated" docs saying

Hussein had wmd; in fact the docs proved he KNEW he did NOT have wmd. Just as he told the US and the world again & again & again.

No, freepers cannot translate Arabic.

Although this "camel bombs" shit is fucking hilarious! Sometimes a good laugh is needed; THANK YOU, FREEPS!

[northzax]

49. anyone with real weapons

isn't resorting to trained camels, you know?

[Swamp Rat]

24. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Maestro]

26. Mental illness is rampant in Freepers.

I can't even comment on this. It is simply ridiculous and certainly not a reason for a war.

[monktonman]

27. dont forget the exploding candy bars

[Jack Rabbit]

28. It figures

Only in Bush's rationale for invading Iraq could any move by the leader of a nation facing an invasion to defend his country from said invasion be regarded as a causus bellum to justify the invasion.

The problem with this piece of stire is that it isn't more ridiculous than what the Bushies would have us believe.

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. Does DU have an Arabic-speaking members

who could get the same documents and translate them into English?

If Freepers can be cited in a UK media site as being credible, then DU should have a go at this :evilgrin:

....just askin' :popcorn:

[daleo]

31. As if the Pentagon would really release papers untranslated

This is the biggest crock I have heard since the last Pentagon whopper. As if they would just release papers, without having any idea what was in them.

[Igel]

48. They did.

Some have summaries. Some have translations. They've all been looked at and evaluated. There are millions of them; only a handful have been released on the web, and more are in the works.

The NSA (and other agencies) have a multi-step process for translations. Linguists look over the documents, and produce descriptions of the contents; then they decide to ignore them, precis them, or translate them. Sometimes, documents that had be abstracted are later translated when their importance is re-evaluated. Translating documents where the precis are sufficient or producing precis when a description shows that they're not worth it are simply bad uses of time and staffing.

What they consider important is different from what we may consider important. A document may simply duplicate what's know reliably from two previous sources; but for us, it's the first source. Or it may go into details that aren't important to the US government at this date; but which freepers or DUers would revel in.

I've translated professionally. I've produced my share of stupid translations, sometimes just mistakes that I found embarassing, sometimes the English sounded horrible when the source was normal (and there was no good alternative), and sometimes the English was simply as dorky as the original. I'd be interested in knowing if the document actually had something in it that could be fairly translated "camels of mass destruction." It's a simple empirical question that I haven't seen an answer to.

[HuffleClaw]

32. what a joke

a bad one at that. freeper 'translations' ?

[Blue_Tires]

33. who would trust FR to do any translation?

much less quote it as news?

[ThoughtCriminal]

34. But wait! - Bush promised he wouldn't use cruise missiles

to blow up camels!

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt." - W

If we don't fight the camels there...

[LynnTheDem]

39. If we don't fight the camels there...

:rofl:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

35. Those would be incredibly slow-moving WMDs.

And who the hell on FR speaks Arabic? They can barely comprehend English.

[LynnTheDem]

40. bombs and explosives are NOT "wmd".

Don't slip into the freeping MFing rightwingnuts' pretend world!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

43. D'oh! My bad, Lynn!

I didn't read the article, just laughed at the headline.

[LynnTheDem]

44. That headline's worth laughing at. The Telegraph is a tabloid, but

even for a tabloid, that's jumping the shark big-time, LOL!

They make the National Enquirer look like a serious paper. :D

[Pithy Cherub]

36. So, is a camel now classified as an insurgent or a terrorist?

America's zoos have been infiltrated. :hide:

[LynnTheDem]

41. *SNORT*

:rofl:

[tanyev]

37. Did they also figure out a way to infect the camels with biological

weapons, so the camels could sneak up on our troops and spit on them?

[LynnTheDem]

42. OMG!!!

STOP already! Yer slaying me here!

Owwwwww my sides hurt!

:rofl:

[Ignacio Upton]

45. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Seriously though, who the fuck would use what Freepers translate as a legitimate "source?" Oh wait, those camel-bombs are NOT WMDS, idiots! Camels with explosives? AHAHAHAHAH! Ok, we have a President that was willingly to provoke Saddam into shooting down a U2 spyplane painted with UN colors, just so he could prevent America from being hurt by camel-bombs? I wonder if Sada will say that camels were moved to Syria?

[Ian David]

46. Beware Mexico's Chihuahuas of Mass Destruction sneaking across the border

Those tiny little dogs can sneak through the smallest cracks in border security, and then home-in on the nearest Taco Bell... and then BLAMMO!

No wonder those little things always look like they're shaking with anxiety.

They know what's going to happen to them.

[Ian David]

47. Saddam Wins the Hadji Ali Prize for Most Innovative Use of a Camel

<snip>

One Muslim of this era not covered by these writers is Hadji Ali (Philip Tedro) who was a Greek convert to Islam and one of six camel handlers (three Arabs, two Turks and Hadji Ali) in the short-lived US camel calvary in 1856.] The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, introduced a bill in Congress, passed in 1855, to import camels for military purposes in the Arizona desert. During this experiment, 77 camels and six handlers were brought over from the East. When the Civil War broke out, this experiment was abandoned. Hadji Ali was the only one of the cameleers to remain in America. The others returned to their homelands. Circuses and zoos acquired some of the camels while others were turned loose. The camels that were turned loose in the desert terrorized live stock and wild animals for years. Hadji Ali became a prospector in the Colorado River Area. He eventually became a legend under the corrupted name, 'Hi Jolly', given to him by soldiers in the US calvary. The only legacies of this experiment are a highway grave marker for Hadji Ali and some US Army Manuals (see 'Report Upon the Purchase, Importation, and Use of Camels and Dromedaries, to be Employed for Military Purposes, According to Act of Congress March 3, 1855. Made under the Direction of the Secretary of War 1855, '56, '57'). A movie by Walt Disney called Hawmps, starring Slim Pickens and Denver Pyle, highlights this moment in history. Hadji Ali lived until 1903 in Quartzsite, Arizona, where he was a prospector and resident imam. His three daughters were raised as Muslims, but I have yet to verify how many generations of his family continued practicing Islam.

More:
http://www.fountainmagazine.com/articles.php?SIN=7017e5cdde&k=574&702798043&show=part1


Also:




Plot Summary for
Hawmps! (1976)

A cavalry outpost in the Wild West of 19th Century USA is in need of horses. The captain of the outpost gets word that they're to receive a shipment of fine Arabians. What he gets is a shipment of...camels.

The US Cavalry tried camels out in the southwestern desert for a short--but memorable--period of time. Horses were having a tough time in the arid climate, and the "powers that be" thought that camels might just be a better option. Needless to say, the results were comical. Some of the best jokes in the movie, however, were based on the Camel cigarette commercials that we baby boomers will remember well, but will have to be explained to the kids.

More:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074614/plotsummary

[TheBaldyMan]

50. this is the same newspaper that 'found' documents implicating

British MP George Galloway in all kinds of nefarious activities with the Hussein regime. When it comes to investigative journalism they seem to trip over a lot of stuff that has been left lying around by the authorities.

[DeepModem Mom]

51. Papers from prewar Iraq posted on Web(conservatives look for WMDs, terror)

CNN/AP: Papers from prewar Iraq posted on Web
U.S. lets surfers have a go at documents seized in the war
Monday, March 27, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. government is making public a huge trove of documents seized during the invasion of Iraq, posting them on the Internet in a step that is at once a nod to the Web's power and an admission that U.S. intelligence resources are overloaded.

Republican leaders in Congress pushed for the release, which was first proposed by conservative commentators and bloggers hoping to find evidence about the fate of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, or possible links to terror groups.

The Web surfers have begun posting translations and comments, digging through the documents with gusto.

"Let's unleash the power of the Internet on these documents," said House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan. "I don't know if there's a smoking gun on WMD or not. But it will give us a better understanding of what was going on in Iraq before the war."

The documents' value is uncertain -- intelligence officials say that they are giving each one a quick review to remove anything sensitive. Skeptics of the war, suspicious of the Bush administration, believe that means the postings are either useless or cherry-picked to bolster arguments for the war....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/war.documents.ap/index.html

[cal04]

52. NY Times :Iraqi Documents Are Put on Web, and Search Is On

American intelligence agencies and presidential commissions long ago concluded that Saddam Hussein had no unconventional weapons and no substantive ties to Al Qaeda before the 2003 invasion. But now, an unusual experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government. Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops.

Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view. On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former Army officer from Alabama, quoted a document reporting a supposed scheme to put anthrax into American leaflets dropped in Iraq and declared triumphantly: "Saddam's W.M.D. and terrorist connections all proven in one document!!!"

Not so, American intelligence officials say. "Our view is there's nothing in here that changes what we know today," said a senior intelligence official, who would discuss the program only on condition of anonymity because the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, directed his staff to avoid public debates over the documents. "There is no smoking gun on W.M.D., Al Qaeda, those kinds of issues."

All the documents — available on fmso.leavenworth.army.mil /products-docex.htm — have received at least a quick review by Arabic linguists and do not alter the government's official stance, officials say. On some tapes already released, in fact, Mr. Hussein expressed frustration that he did not have unconventional weapons.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/politics/28intel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[DeepModem Mom]

53. Thank you, cal04!

[hwmnbn]

54. Just a damn second ......

How do we know these documents are authentic? Why are they just coming out now? Did the DOD pay for any of these documents? Are the Niger Uranium forgeries part of the collection?

My guess is they are running out of ideas on how to spin and need new blood from the blogosphere.

[janx]

55. Right, and the freeps picked one about CAMELS.

How perfect is that?

[flamingpie2500]

56. Papers from prewar Iraq posted on the Web.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. government is making public a huge trove of documents seized during the invasion of Iraq, posting them on the Internet in a step that is at once a nod to the Web's power and an admission that U.S. intelligence resources are overloaded.

Republican leaders in Congress pushed for the release, which was first proposed by conservative commentators and bloggers hoping to find evidence about the fate of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, or possible links to terror groups.

The Web surfers have begun posting translations and comments, digging through the documents with gusto.


That should keep us all busy for a while!! LOL What exactly is it they want us to find?



http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/war.documents.ap/index.html

[acmavm]

57. Justification for Shock and Awe. I doubt the reliability of these papers.

.

[flamingpie2500]

58. Link to the papers==doesn't work will try looking again

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.milproducts-docex.htm/

[NVMojo]

59. they reclassified historic documents recently but now dump this on us?

hmmmmm, what predictable idiots. chaos must be one of the goals.

[flamingpie2500]

60. probably the same people who gave us the Niger Documents!

[flamingpie2500]

61. try this link

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products-docex.htm

[YankeyMCC]

62. Also in NYT

http://nytimes.com/2006/03/28/politics/28intel.html?ei=5094&en=cddaff304d6111ee&hp=&ex=1143608400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1143547310-FCHpXI6IdR99wt8RLG9WSg


Is anyone or group of people associated with DU working on translations and analysis?

I know there's a lot to laugh at in the right-wing's attempt to find evidence in these dox but the article's point of the timing is an important point. All they need is a little buzz of doubt that maybe Saddam did have WMD or ties to OBL, even if it's foundationless and even a bit fringe and it helps them on the national debate and hence weakens the Dem strategy for 06.

[Virginian]

63. Pentagon can't translate but Freepers can?

Earlier this month, the Pentagon released copies in the original Arabic onto the internet in the hope that others would interpret them into English.

That statement defies credibility.

[Javaman]

64. I heard that the real translation was something like this....

Today, a translation of a hand written paper by saddam was released to the public...

"Faris, do you have all of the lactose intolerant camels ready? If so, begin feeding them the whole milk. Ha ha ha, this should be quite a surprise to the American pig dogs, they have never felt the wrath of camel farts!"