Iraqis Who Take Risks for American Journalists May Pay With Their Lives

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD (AP) Iman Hashim worked as a translator for American troops dealing with her small town's local government council, until insurgents broke into her family house last year and shot her to death as she lay in bed.
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Like many Iraqis who deal with Americans and other Westerners, those who work as interpreters face a dilemma: keep their jobs and live with threats of intimidation and death or give up their livelihood in a country where jobs are at a premium.

There are no hard numbers on how many translators have been killed by the insurgents since the U.S.-led occupation began in May 2003. Their employers and families routinely refuse to provide information about such killings for fear of endangering families or other translators.

But since last November, rumors have swirled throughout the region where Hashim lived, the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, of bounties being offered for murders: $1,000 for a policeman, $2,000 for a member of the National Guard, and $10,000 for an Iraqi translator or journalist.

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