Iraqi Terps Who Blog

Loading

While perusing around for some new Iraqi blogs to read, I read the following from a post by an Iraqi interpreter:

I’d like to mention to my readers that my blog had a sister now,yes,It is a new terp blog,his blog http://interps-life.blogspot.com/he has a great English writing skills(not like me, too far from perfect as Abbas hawazin said (lol))

Some of these Iraqi blogs have excellent English skills. So when IRAQI-TRANSLATOR wrote “he has a great English writing skills”…..well, when I clicked the link, and the first post to jump out at me was this:

Hello everybody,
this post is totally diffrent from other posts..
this one im writing it and im full with anger..i just wanna say I HATE IRAQ, I HATE MOST OF THE IRAQIS which they r my fellow citizens..
i hate to be iraqi, sometimes i wished i born somewhere else not in this damn place iraq, but i stop wishin that cuz i might not find Amy somewhere else..
tonight something happened to me from a damn iraqis they call themselves Muslims, Arabs and a fuckin Iraqis and they in fact they r scum and trash..
i hate iraq and most of the iraqis cuz most of my ppl they r hypocrites, they r a damn double face, and fuckin liars..
Am so ashamed from wat im sayin but this is wat i feel and this is less wat i realy have in my heart now..
i knw when i’ll calm down i wont regret for anything i said now in this post while im angry and so mad now..and the blog like vent to me so i can through out all the anger from my heart..
i just HATE IRAQ and most of the IRAQIS..
GOD i hate this PLACE and i cant get the hell out of this shit hole..
GOD plzzzzzz help me out..
tx everybody for sharing my feelings with me..

I wasn’t expecting an angry rant in text-speak. Well, Sam is, after all, 20 years old. Scroll down further, and there is an interesting post which gives a glimpse into the life and important work of Iraqi interpreters:

I remember we were doing security operation in a city- west of Iraq, I was with my team. we were the strikers. and there were MET team( team deals with the Iraqi Army).. the MET team leader told his interpreter to call the IA’s (Iraqi Army) through the radio and telling them to stay away from that house which we were getting fire from, cuz the air will bomb it…
the interpreter didn’t understand what his team leader told him, but I was there and I heard what the team leader said…so the interpreter called the IA’s and told them “hey the Americans say get in the house and detain the bad guys inside the house”..

I heard him and I was like what the fuck r u tellin them???? Do u wanna kill them u stupid? he said “that what the team leader said!!” I said “call it off”, then I asked the team leader what u just told him? he said “tell the IA’s to be away from the house cuz the air will bomb it..” then the terp understood that he translated wrong and he almost kill IA’s team by translating mistake…then he called the IA’s again and told them “run far away from the house ASAP the air coming to bomb it..”

then he thanked me and started crying cuz it was gonna be a really massacre to the IA’s but thanks god I heard what the team leader said and what the terp translated..
my point is, there is a really good terps and there is ok terps and there is sux.. there is terps needs terps, we call them TNT, which is stands for Terp Needs Terp..

the terp was so confused while he was translating cuz we were under fire. but his confusing almost killed the IA’s!!
here I’m trying to define the interps and who r they and what r they and why they chose this job. I wont talk only about myself here but I’ll talk abut other terps too..
the terps community is a mix of a lot and different classes of ppl, u can find terps from age 18 years old to 65 years and maybe more and from different life classes, like ppl used to be wealthy families or ppl poor and trying to be rich or ppl just want to live good and in peace.. u can find doctors, engineers and ppl still students and also u find ppl they haven’t even graduated from high school and ppl even cant read or write Arabic or English!!..

Read more

Also, a question and answer post for an Iraqi interpreter. It’s quite intereresting, with some funny stuff.

Of related interest:
U.K. Turns Its Back On Iraq Interpreters
Iraqi Translators: Visas Or Death?
60 Minutes: Left Behind

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
3 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I would tell our young friend that we are desperate for COMPETANT translators in the U.S. government and if he wants to get the hell out he should see if the State Dept. or Defense Dept. can’t arrange it.

Mike,
I have been sending letters to the State department trying to get “3 terps” out of Iraq since they and their families have been threatened. Some have moved to Syria where it is safer. One moved to Sweden. All are afraid to return to Iraq. Their only crime is they helped us. The requirements of the state department prevent these valuable people from entering the US.

I would like to offer you a complimentary review copy of the new book by Iraqi ex-pat Issam Jameel “Iraq Through A Bullet Hole: A Civilian Returns Home”. Issam was in exile for a decade working at a resistance radio station in Jordan for a while and finally settling in Australia. When he attempted to return to his homeland in the summer of 2005, he was overwhelmed by danger, chaos, corruption, in-fighting, and con-artists. His harrowing account is a vivid reminder that Mission Accomplished is not exactly that.

http://ModernHistoryPress.com