McClatchy: Iraqi interpreters seek refuge in U.S.

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/17103.html

Iraqi interpreters seek refuge in U.S.
By Hannah Allam | McClatchy Newspapers

DAMASCUS, Syria — Mohamed Abdul Kareem's crushing culmination to three years of service as a translator and cultural adviser to U.S. troops in Iraq came on the recent day that he joined a long line of Iraqi widows and children at a refugee registration center here.

An air of defeat engulfed him despite his spotless gray Nikes and expensive Oakley sunglasses. He took his place in the somber queue, and eventually received his appointment date with a United Nations refugee specialist: Jan. 10, 2008.

That gives him seven additional months to stew in the bitterness of his abrupt transition from trusted U.S. military interpreter with a high security clearance to just another castoff of the war in Iraq, an Iraqi refugee among 1.4 million others in Syria.

"I think maybe one of the reasons (American military officers) haven't replied is because they think I betrayed them by coming here to Syria," Abdul Kareem said. "But, believe me, I had no other place to go."

more...