Sep 24, 2004
The Americans today confirmed the appointment of a new director for its spying agency. In an earlier interview, seen in the film Fahrenheit 9/11, he stated that he is not qualified for the post. His view on the matter is now over-ruled by the members of the US Congress, who are assumed to have greater knowledge of things in the secrecy field than the director of the spying agency.
The previous director left shortly after a film was released to the news media that showed a man being beheaded in Iraq. Unfortunately for the director, the body of the man was reported found alongside a road three days before the film was made, judging by the dates recorded at the corner of the film. Another agency man left about the same time, and one wonders if he was perhaps head of the department responsible for producing such documentaries.
The man in the film was said to be an American named Nicolas Berg, who was said to be in the custody of the US Army, perhaps the Intelligence division, and then again, he may have been in some way associated with the CIA, which has around 600-700 of its not-so-secret agents crawling around Iraq at the present time. One must wonder what secrets are yet to be found among the ruins of the government buildings, thoughtfully destroyed by heavy bombs from an air force with only smart bombs.
Perhaps they are engaged in learning Arabic from the Iraqi's, holding face-to-naked-back conversation sessions throughout the night in the prisons. It is well that they learn Arabic, as it is the language of the Qur'an, which provides guidance to those who are lost. And the members of the spy agencies are certainly lost.
The man seen reading from several pages in the film, as the sound track suggests, fumbles with the pages as he reads, but strangely he does not miss a beat as the pages are turned about and upside-down in his hands. One has to wonder if the voice on the film is the voice of the man in the picture. Graphics are wonderful things nowadays. It is possible to do about anything with simple computer software. It is possible to use a picture of a man kissing his wife, merge it with a picture of a donkey, and the man is soon seen kissing the donkey, either end.
The man reading the papers is said to be a man named Zarkwari, or something like that. He is said to a Jordanian, and associated in some fashion with Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda organisation, perhaps as a senior figure next to the top, near the top, or perhaps within waving distance from the top. It is difficult to be sure.
Immediately after the film was released, said to be from an Arabic site that favors the opposing side in the war on terror, the CIA confirmed that the voice was indeed that of the man named Zarkwari, or something like that. They were certain of it, because they have the necessary devices to compare the voice with prior recordings of the man's voice.
When the CIA compared the two voices, there was no doubt about it, it was that fellow Zarkwari all right, if I have the name right. The CIA ought to know. They have been trying to get a link between Osama Bin Laden and Iraq for some time, and this seems a good time to settle the question for good.
A native speaker of a language, let's say English, can usually tell if someone they meet comes from Australia or Ireland. Or perhaps it is Scotland, it is difficult to be certain these days. The point here is that there are accents in any language, and it is possible for a native speaker who has met a few tourists, talked to some travelers, seen some foreign movies and so on, to tell where the speaker learned to speak the language.
If you have seen the movie Fargo, you get the idea. Compare the accent in that movie with the accents from a movie made in another part of the English-speaking world, say Slingblade, made in the Southeastern part of the US. The voices are a little different, at least they seem so to anyone who is familiar with English, and is a native speaker, reasonably fluent from early childhood.
We are not referring to highly technical electronic audio equipment, we are talking about the human ear. The average human ear can distinguish between the voice of someone who was born and raised in Brooklyn and that of someone else who was born and raised in Boston. For the average numbskull, it is even possible to tell which part of Brooklyn or Boston the speaker comes from.
In a case that involves a native speaker of English from Sydney, it would be foolish for the so-called intelligence agents to say that the speaker was from Edinburgh. If a spy agency reported to the media that they had examined a voice that came with a video made with an amateur camera, and issued an official statement that the voice belonged to a man from Louisiana, that they were certain of it, people who speak only Chinese or Latvian might be reassured that the spy guys were on the ball, doing their job, and had definitely identified their man.
But an English speaker would not be so easily fooled. A native English speaker would listen for a minute or so, and say, "Who are you trying to fool? That voice comes from someone who was raised in Iowa!" What would the media do in a case like this? Would they continue to report the beheading film as genuine, and that the speaker was indeed the man they said he was? Certainly not, because the media knows they cannot fool a native speaker of the language, whose ears can tell whether the speaker is from Iowa, Boston, Brooklyn or Sydney.
The man identified as Zarkwari, or whatever, is said to be a Jordanian, well known and easily identified because he has been in custody of the spy agencies for most of his adult life. They say they know his voice. They say the voice on the film is Zarkwari, or whoever, and they say they are certain of it. They have sophisticated electronic devices that can see if you parted your hair correctly at a distance of 200 kilometers. They have gismos that can make a whisper into a roar from forty blocks away, and the ability to make computer analyses of the voice frequencies that can distinguish between the voices of identical twins. The spies are trained, experts in all types of information manipulation and interpretation, and they can be depended on to use their skill and training to make an accurate appraisal of all types of information that they are able to appropriate, whether in the supermarket or inside the telephone exchange.
The ability to identify the place where a speaker was born and raised is common in every country, in every language. You might not believe it, but it is true. A native Chinese speaker can tell you within a few kilometers where another Chinese speaker comes from, and there are over a billion of them. An Indian speaker will tell you that there are so many dialects in India that people from one village cannot communicate with people from a neighboring village only ten or fifteen kilometers away.
It is not necessary to believe that what is said here is correct, that there are differences in language accents and dialects that are simple matters for native speakers. Ask any intelligence agent. They will tell you. They can listen to a voice and tell you the name of the speaker. They are that good. Ask any journalist, they say everyday that the man identified as Zarkwari or whatever is really him. They know it because the intelligence agency said so, and so it must be true.
The man identified by the intelligence agencies as Zarkwari, or whatever, is known to be a Jordanian, and the spy agencies know him well. They cannot be fooled. They have analysed the voice, and it is definitely him. We need not debate the point, and can concede that they have done a fine job. The new director can be relied on to provide the necessary supervision of these skilled agents at the intelligence front, giving out honours and decorations for the excellent job they are doing. The war on terror, slated to last fifty years, will soon be over with men like these at the front.
Arabic is not different from other languages in the wide range of accents and dialects it has. Like other languages, it is possible to listen for a minute and tell if it is your brother or your uncle who is speaking. You can generally tell if the speaker has gone to school beyond the third grade, or perhaps there is an indication that the speaker is a college graduate, a medical specialist, or some other profession, as this fellow Zarkwari is said to be.
When a native Arabic speaker listens to the voices on the various beheading films that appear every day or so, it is possible to make a guess whether the speaker is from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Algeria or perhaps Morocco. The native Arabic speaker can tell if the voice is that of a man or a woman, and can estimate the age. The native Arabic speaker can tell what country, what region, and often what town the speaker comes from.
The thought has not entered the minds of the technological spy agency fellows that perhaps a native Arabic speaker might be able to give them some help, perhaps even provide a clue that they have made a slight error. The native Arabic speaker, on hearing the voice on the film, says, "That man is not from Jordan, he is from one of the Gulf States."
The numerous journalists who say every day the man Zarkwaqri or whatever is alive and beheading more hostages, that he is properly identified, and that he is under the right armpit of Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda, and that the war against Iraq is justified because it is certain that there is a connection, they should, they should, what? Hire a native Arabic speaker? Confirm the reports given to them by the agency guys? Why, the reports they are given might be forgeries, and they might have to make an humble apology. And they will. I have seen it recently myself, in a case involving the son of the ex-head of the CIA. Who is that over there laughing? Is that who I think it is, the head of a spy agency in striped pants, now head of the cold war opponent, now vanquished, named .... ahhh, I know it ... PUTIN! That's it, PUTIN. Do you suppose he is smiling because he speaks Arabic? Or perhaps he knows a native Arabic speaker or two.
Never mind, they lost in Afghanistan, and now their empire is laid low. They have become friends of the terrorist-killers, and they would not make a mistake like that, would they? They would not use their oil industry to manipulate the western markets, would they? They would not spend a billion dollars to build an oil pipeline to China, would they? Don't ask me for answers. Ask the intelligent guys at the intelligence agency, they get billions of taxpayer dollars to know these things. They are experts in such matters, and they have a new director, a nice guy, he looks good in the movies. Maybe he speaks Arabic.
The url of this page is: https://harunrmy0.tripod.com/49oxymoron.html