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Interpreters may have mistranslated interviews at Guantanamo
New York, Oct 07: American interpreters at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who are under suspicion of espionage, may have sabotaged interviews with detainees by inaccurate translation, senior US officials said.
New York, Oct 07: American interpreters at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who are under suspicion of espionage, may have sabotaged interviews with detainees by inaccurate translation, senior US officials said.
It is unclear in how many cases, if any, this may have happened, but military investigators are taking the issue seriously enough to review taped interrogations involving the Arabic-language interpreters under scrutiny to check their accuracy, The New York Times reported today.
If the investigators' worst fears are realised, officials said, scores of interviews with suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban prisoners at the Cuban detention centre could be compromised, and military officials could be forced to re-interview many of the camp's 680 detainees. "There are enough suggestions that give US cause to compare the audiotapes with the translations," one senior American official familiar with the inquiry told the times.
The official declined to say what those suggestions were, and other senior American officials similarly refused to cite any specific evidence of deliberate mistranslation by the interpreters.
The concerns about the reliability of some of the camp's 70 military and civilian linguists only add to the growing mystery surrounding the motives and objectives of as many as 10 people who worked at the camp, had contact with the prisoners and now are under suspicion in the widening inquiry, military officials said.
Bureau Report
If the investigators' worst fears are realised, officials said, scores of interviews with suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban prisoners at the Cuban detention centre could be compromised, and military officials could be forced to re-interview many of the camp's 680 detainees. "There are enough suggestions that give US cause to compare the audiotapes with the translations," one senior American official familiar with the inquiry told the times.
The official declined to say what those suggestions were, and other senior American officials similarly refused to cite any specific evidence of deliberate mistranslation by the interpreters.
The concerns about the reliability of some of the camp's 70 military and civilian linguists only add to the growing mystery surrounding the motives and objectives of as many as 10 people who worked at the camp, had contact with the prisoners and now are under suspicion in the widening inquiry, military officials said.
Bureau Report