Translators dying by the dozens in Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

It's one of the most dangerous civilian jobs in one of the world's most dangerous countries: translating Arabic for the U.S. military in Iraq.

One by one, little noticed in the daily mayhem, dozens of interpreters have been killed — mostly Iraqis but 12 Americans, too. They account for 40% of the 300-plus death claims filed by private contractors with the U.S. Labor Department.

Riding in bomb-blasted Humvees, tagging along on foot patrols in Fallujah or dashing into buildings behind Marines, translators are dying on the job, but also facing danger at home: hunted by insurgents who call them pro-American collaborators.

"If the insurgents catch us, they will cut off our heads because the imams say we are spies," said Mustafa Fahmi, 24, an Iraqi interpreter with Titan Corp., the biggest employer of linguists in Iraq. "I've been threatened like fifteen times, but I won't quit. A neighbor saw me driving and said, 'I am going to kill you.'"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-05-21-translator-deaths_x.htm

[Cha]

1. Well, if you like living large on

on the edge then interpreter is your game in Iraq.

[dkofos]

2. They would be safe if we left

Unemployed but safe