Maybe Put the Horse Before the Cart:

Excerpt:
"Our capabilities were not what they should have been," Mr. Goss said in an hourlong interview. He said there had been "way too many gaps" in American intelligence gathering, including information about Iraq's conventional military power and any illicit weapons programs.

Congressional officials have long expressed concern that intelligence agencies do not have nearly enough officers who speak Arabic, Persian or Pashto, languages needed to gain access to information in Arab nations, Iran and Afghanistan.

In the interview, Mr. Goss offered a careful defense of the Bush administration's use of the prewar information, taking issue with Democrats who have said the administration exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq. He said he believed that the administration's warnings about Iraq's illicit weapons program had been prudent, even though American investigators in Iraq have not turned up any chemical or biological weapons or prohibited weapons materials. In general, he said, intelligence agencies "did the best they could with what they had" in concluding that Iraq had such weapons in its arsenal...

On the issue of language training for intelligence officers, a senior Republican Congressional official said a significant amount of money allocated by Congress for the foreign language training of C.I.A. officers, particularly in Arabic, Persian and Pashto, had been redirected by the agency for other purposes during the last fiscal year.

An agency official who spoke on condition of anonymity said he understood that some of the money had been spent on computer-driven document translation rather than on training for individual officers.

OK--a couple of comments here: First, if we don't have enough Arabic/Farsi (Persian)/Pashtun speakers, then it might be a good idea to get up to speed before invading--especially if further evidence from human intelligence or documents indicates, oh, I don't know, NO weapons of mass destruction. Doing the best you can with what you have is no more a justification for invasion than having a gas powered range is justification for calling in the fire department.

Besides, the CIA was VERY careful in their analysis of the situation. So careful, that Bush decided to bypass the agency and rely on dubious intelligence from Ahmad Chalabi (See link from a post below about "the mess" in Iraq). On the issue of document translation: numerous communications between Al Qaeda cells were intercepted prior to 9/11. Many were not transcribed. Those that were transcribed were not translated. Yes, by all means, INCREASE the number of agents who speak the local languages in the Middle East and Central Asia. But translating documents is high priority as well. That way, you can transcribe AND translate, thereby getting intel to folks high enough up the food chain to act on it.

Of course, instead, you can argue for a policy of go to war first, learn language and customs later--but I don't think it's a wise policy....