Iraqi interpreters working for Americans can no longer conceal their identities. The Washington Post reports:
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military has barred Iraqi interpreters working with American troops in Baghdad from wearing ski masks to disguise themselves, prompting some to resign and others to bare their faces even though they fear it could get them killed.
Many interpreters employed by the U.S. government and Western companies in Iraq do everything they can to avoid being recognized on the job because extremists have tortured and killed Iraqis accused of collaborating with the enemy. …
“We are a professional Army and professional units don’t conceal their identity by wearing masks,” Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a spokesman for the U.S. military, wrote in an e-mail. He expressed appreciation for the service and sacrifice of the interpreters but said those dissatisfied with the new policy “can seek alternative employment.”
During years of active combat and widespread violence, interpreters have helped U.S. soldiers make sense of Iraq’s streets, politics and history. These guides have been killed by snipers on foot patrols, blasted to shreds in roadside bombings and vilified by extremists as traitors.
Is this a good or a bad thing? On the one hand, it prevents Iraqis from fearing they are being condemned by a man whose face they can’t even see. On the other hand, it has chilling effect on people who may be risking their lives in American service. My own guess is that some bad guys and some good guys will “seek alternative employment”. Whether there will be more of the former than the latter is the question. Open thread.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
18 Comments
1. Tinfoil Hatter:When LTC Stover’s family is under immediate, direct threat of torture for his actions as a PAO (snort!), he will be in a position to present this horrific idea with a straight face.
Otherwise, STFU.
BTW, our SOF operators almost always wear face masks on operations, and always obscure their faces, if photographed. They are the dictionary definition of “professional.”
Stay classy, LTC Stover!
Nov 17, 2008 - 1:15 pm 2. Annoy Mouse:“We are a professional Army and professional units don’t conceal their identity by wearing masks,”
Though true Iraqi interpreters are by and large confidential informants, it is their families that are most at risk. This is a culture that holds the parents accountable for the actions of the children, to the point that disgracing the family is tantamount to a death sentence. The average Iraqi may tolerate the presence of US troops but asking them to turn a blind eye to their fellow countrymen is quite a different thing altogether. There is a method of protecting informants even in the territorial US, it is called the Witness Relocation Program.
Nov 17, 2008 - 1:20 pm 3. fred:Who is this idiot, LTC Steve Stover? And who is the author of this neural abortion of a policy? It seems completely divorced from the reality on the ground in Iraq, where Islamists are still lurking in the shadows, looking for apostates and their loved ones to kill.
Does this policy originate with Gen. Petraeus? Someone lower in the chain of command? Someone higher? Iraqi or U.S. politicians?
It’s difficult to handle FUBAR when you don’t know whose idea it was.
Nov 17, 2008 - 1:30 pm 4. NahnCee:I have thought before to myself that Iraqi interpreters have an unfortunate tendency to look like Palestinian terrorists. They both like to wrap their scarves in the same way and/or wear a black face-mask.
I mentioned that once on another blog a couple of years ago and immediately had a return post from an obvious soldierly type to the effect that it’s dangerous and they’re trying to protect themselves and their families.
I’m guessing that if the word has gone out that the war in Iraq has been won, then the interpreters should come in from the cold and take their Arafat-looking scarves off.
And if the decision is made that they *do* need to keep their identity secret for a while longer, can they do it in some way that doesn’t look so intentionally terroristic? A woman’s nylon over the head sounds about right.
Nov 17, 2008 - 1:49 pm 5. Captain Ramen:I am going to tentatively agree with LTC Stover. Can we truly say we won in Iraq if the citizenry is still afraid of openly supporting the Coalition?
The surge is successful because Coalition troops protect Iraqis who rat on terrorists. They are then more confident about providing intel, we then bust more bad guys, which creates more confidence, etc.
It would have been insane to have tried this 2 years ago, but today? If we can show the Iraqis that even people who openly support coalition forces have nothing to worry about then I think we can finally declare victory.
Nov 17, 2008 - 1:58 pm 6. Tinfoil Hatter:“I am going to tentatively agree with LTC Stover. Can we truly say we won in Iraq if the citizenry is still afraid of openly supporting the Coalition?
The surge is successful because Coalition troops protect Iraqis who rat on terrorists. They are then more confident about providing intel, we then bust more bad guys, which creates more confidence, etc.
It would have been insane to have tried this 2 years ago, but today? If we can show the Iraqis that even people who openly support coalition forces have nothing to worry about then I think we can finally declare victory.”
So, would you be willing to troop through Sadr City, by yourself, with nothing but a smile and a M9, while with your entire family stringing along? So, why would you ask a terp to essentially do the same thing.
Terps have consistantly been at as much, or more risk than our combat troops, and to ask them to further risk their families lives to make us feel better about ourselves reeks of the worst kind of self-importance.
Nov 17, 2008 - 2:14 pm 7. Pascal:LTC REMF touts superiority “in an email.”
Uh, sir. Isn’t email a mask?
Nov 17, 2008 - 2:34 pm 8. K:What problem does this new policy solve?
Is the populace complaining about the masks? Is the Iraqi government insisting the masks come off? Are US operations failing due to the masks?
I can’t know. This sounds like “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And from the story the LTC is just a spokesman. A decision like this wouldn’t come from an LTC.
As for masks. Masks are not banned by treaties. Professional Army MA! During operations the interpreters need to have some uniform or insignia. Otherwise our own troops cannot recognize them.
Nov 17, 2008 - 3:01 pm 9. Scott:Interesting. Last month, I received a letter from my state agency informing me how to process Iraqi immigrants with “special immigrant visas”. These visas, called SIV, are being issued to Iraqi translators and interpreters. The US will admit 5000 of them each year, along with eligible dependents. It would seem that the US State Dept knows the danger these people are in, but the military does not? Idiocy.
Nov 17, 2008 - 6:37 pm 10. Mike Sylwester:The value of an interpreter has several components, which include language skill, intelligence, experience, personality, personal availability, discipline and trustworthiness.
Apparently, the US military in Iraq feels that it now can afford to be much more selective in its employment of Iraqis as interpreters. Those who feel extremely threatened are security risks. If you need four interpreters, and you have five interpreters, and one of the four is terrified that his family is being threatened constantly, then which one of the five will you let go?
The interpreters who are being dismissed have promising futures. When LtCol Stover says they can seek alternative employment, he is not being merely cold-hearted. Indeed, they really can seek alternative employment and probably will acquire good jobs. Now they have valuable experience, skills, contacts and recommendations because of the time they did work for the US military. And their new jobs will be much less dangerous for them and their families.
The war in Iraq has ended, and an economic and modernization boom is beginning. Some Iraqis who have been working as interpreters for US military combat units will have to transition to the new opportunities.
Nov 17, 2008 - 6:59 pm 11. Mike Sylwester:Correction:
Nov 17, 2008 - 7:02 pm 12. anton:If you need four interpreters, and you have five interpreters, and one of the five is terrified that his family is being threatened constantly, then which one of the five will you let go?
If they don’t need masks for safety why does my local SWAT team always wear masks? Everybody knows they are cops and they don’t wear masks for day-today street operations. Because the people they are SWATting are bad a%$es and might come for them or families.
Nov 17, 2008 - 7:25 pm 13. Wadeusaf:Let the interpeter decide, the brave ones will set the tone and in a pride/shame culture such as Iraq the others will follow. The weak-kneed will quit, but did we really want them anyways?
Their’s is a strange mixture of old tribal and new rational cutures. I would not have stated the new policy in an e mail, if I announced it at all. It is what it is, but it is not ours to say if things are safe enough to go forward with this across the board. Is this the actual state of affairs in Iraq or is this just wishful thinking? It is hard to tell from the story because in only one sentence dose it give a time line. The on terp who was asked in September to remove his mask. At one time this was a death sentence for the terps and their families, many of who have now moved to the US for that very reason.
In my gut, I think the Army has made a very unprofessional decision.
Nov 17, 2008 - 8:00 pm 14. Mad Fiddler:It is not unheard of for SWAT team members to wear masks for the purpose of obscuring their identities in the continental U.S. Is that unprofessional?
It is customary for many police departments that officers’ personal telephone numbers are not publicly available. Does that mark them as cowards?
It is a grotesque distortion of logic to claim that the obligations of the interpreters are or should be identical to those of U.S. soldiers. They are private Iraqi citizens hired without any guarantee of the sanctuary or protection of U.S. military for themselves or their families.
Nov 17, 2008 - 10:13 pm 15. NahnCee:If they’re gonna wear a mask, make it a Mickey Mouse one — something that hides the face but is *not* scarey, intimidating or macho. Maybe a Snow White or Cinderella or Tinker Bell one.
If an interpreter gets issued a Pinocchio mask, he should start cleaning up his act because maybe people aren’t depending on him like he might wish they would.
I can’t help but feel that the interpreters may get off on a power trip of being with the Big Boys, and the locals know they’re at his mercy. Wearing a terrorist-looking mask would be part of that power trip, so while I can understand them not wanting to show their faces, maybe, they shouldn’t be allowed to power-trip behind scary masks.
Nov 17, 2008 - 10:50 pm 16. Response39:I’m concerned that Lt.Col. Stover is being naive. What he says is true for all regular US military. Ask any Delta, Seal, Green Beret, or other elite counter-insurgency unit about their policies and you’ll get a different story. Perhaps he should remember that he’s just a visitor and that the interpreters live there whether there are US troops in country or not.
Nov 18, 2008 - 3:28 am 17. goesh:Word should spread pretty fast and create a real shortage of interpretors. Sounds like PC creep is already in action in anticipation of an Obama administration – Lifers ( in contrast to career men) with fecal matter on their noses will also create a shortage of NCOs real fast and junior Officers with talent who will vacate to the private sector where talent is appreciated and rewarded.
Nov 18, 2008 - 7:13 am 18. PapaBear:We will wind up in a situation where the interpreters we have left do not fear the terrorists. Hopefully, the reason will not be that they don’t fear because they are double agents for the terrorists.
Nov 18, 2008 - 9:06 am