Lost in Translation: The High Cost of Interpreting in the Middle East

Interpreters have some of the most high risk jobs in war zones.
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Stars and Stripes ran an important but, sadly, largely overlooked article on April 2., to quote from the lead:

As the Iraqi government pushes for more control over the tens of thousands of American contractors still in the country, some high-level U.S. interpreters say new visa regulations are pushing them to leave.

The interpreters, Arab-Americans who work in sensitive areas such as intelligence or as liaisons between senior American officers and Iraqi officials, worry that submitting the details of their identities to the Iraqi government could endanger themselves or family members living in Iraq or elsewhere in the region.

"Working for four years doing intel, pretty much I know how corrupt things are," said one former Iraqi-American interpreter who quit her job and returned to the U.S. last month after her company notified employees they would need to apply for a visa. Like other interpreters interviewed for this story, she spoke on the condition of anonymity.

This is quite unfortunate as interpreters have some of the most high risk jobs in war zones. In November 2007 it was reported that nearly one-third of all U.S. contractor deaths in Iraq since the war began in 2003 have been employees of San Diego-based Titan and its parent L-3 Communications, which had a multibillion-dollar contract with the Pentagon to provide thousands of translators and interpreters to soldiers in the battlefield and elsewhere in the Middle East. At that time, it had 216 employees killed in the Iraq war, more than any other entity except the U.S. military.

That is far higher than the combined Blackwater/Xe Services total which, according to the Department of Labor Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) Defense Base Act Case Summary by Employer, was 56 from Sep. 1, 2001 to March 31, 2010.

The visa requirement is at least in part due to the blowback from the Nisoor Square shootings by Blackwater guards in 2007. According to Stars and Stripes:

Angry over a U.S. judge's dismissal of criminal charges against five security contractors accused in the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 people in Baghdad, Iraqi officials in February ordered any contractors who ever worked for the former Blackwater Worldwide out of the country and threatened to arrest on visa violations any who failed to leave -- an apparent acknowledgment that many contractors arrive without a visa.

The day after that threat was issued, a site manager for Global Linguist Solutions sent interpreters an e-mail telling them a visa was "now required to enter and exit Iraq" and asking them to submit personal information including their father's name and their country of birth.

I forwarded the Stars and Stripes article to Chris Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Mission Essential Personnel, a company providing translators, interpreters and cultural advisors to the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan, and supports missions in Africa, Asia and Europe, and asked him to comment on the article. He wrote in an email reply:

"Interpreters and translators go into harm's way right next to the military professionals they serve. They provide an essential service and have sensitive affiliations that deserve special consideration with regard to visa regulations that could put them or their families at risk. The effects of these visa regulations, if they are enforced country-wide, create an unfair burden on interpreters and translators, especially those born and raised in the host nation, that other contractors will not experience. Without these brave professionals, the mission simply stops. While companies must comply with all laws, they should engage State and Defense Department officials, and host nation government decision-makers about the life-threatening effects of these new visa regulations and seek an exception to the visa requirements, at least for those born or with family in theater. If the decision to enforce the regulation country-wide is mainly about revenue generation for the Iraqi government, arrangements can be made to pay for "heads" without identifying specific people. Without a change, surely some translators will be driven away, thus increasing risk to mission; something the US cannot afford. "

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