Boastful Reporters Are No Help

"Why do people who learn enough Arabic to get by insist on inserting meanings into matters where no extraordinary meaning exists? Of course my favourite example of such people is Juan Cole, but today I'm asking about Anthony Shadid of the NYT. What is he trying to prove?

In his piece today, he writes about the de-Baathification in Iraq. He's right that the United States made horrendous mistakes in Iraq. He is also right when he says Paul Bremer, who was hopelessly at sea, came up with the de-Baathification decree. But here is where Shadid wanders into unecessary turf: "In Arabic, a more descriptive language, the word that was used was “ijtithath” — to tear out or uproot.""
IraqPundit