Iraqi translators struggle for safety and a visa

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http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Iraqi_translators_struggle_for_safety_and_a_visa.html?siteSect=143&sid=8136169&cKey=1187950065000&ty=ti

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Abu Usama, accused of being a spy for working as a U.S. military translator, thought he would protect his family from retribution if he left Iraq.

In January, four months after he went alone to Jordan, his father, brother and brother-in-law were snatched by suspected al Qaeda fighters near their home in western Baghdad. None has been seen since. All are presumed dead.

Abu Usama's story is typical of many of the thousands of Iraqis who put their lives at risk by working as translators for the Americans, British and others whose forces are fighting Iraq's relentless insurgency.

For a few hundred dollars a month and with a dream of helping to build a new Iraq -- or of a visa to get out -- they put themselves and their families in danger of reprisals by Sunni Islamist militants and Shi'ite militias.

Many are in limbo, stuck in third countries like Jordan and Syria, where an estimated two million Iraqis have fled. snip

"We helped to free Iraq. It was bad luck for us."