Good translation is important.

Here is an interesting quote from Lawrence Wright's book "The Looming Tower " : "Actually, there were only half a dozen Arabic speakers in the FBI contingent , and language was a constant source of misunderstanding......Once ,when he was talking to an obstructionist colonel in Yemen intelligence , O'Neill exclaimed in frustration, "Christ , this is like pulling teeth! " When the colonel's personal translator repeated the remark in Arabic, the officer stood up, visibly angry. "What'd I say ? " O'Neill asked Soufan . Soufan told him that the translator had told the colonel, "If you don't answer my questions , I'm going to pull out your teeth ! ""