Been There Done That.
US. pullout leaves Iraqi interpreters out on limb
I am an Iraqi citizen who worked as an interpreter with the U.S. military for two years. It was an honor to serve, and I did it because I believed that bringing freedom to Iraq required brave people to stand up and try to make a difference. Now, as a result of my service, I find myself in a dangerous limbo.
From a pal of mine via FB.
There is a message that needs to promulgated.
Boat people anyone?
Category: Geezer Alert!
My family came to the U.S. after the fall of Sai Gon and we are extremely grateful to have the life that we are living today. I proudly wore the Eagle Globe and Anchor for over 21 years.
“My fellow interpreters and I were promised by the U.S. government that special visas would be made available for us to move to the United States if our lives were put in danger by our work for the military. Congress backed up that promise by passing a law setting aside 5,000 such “special immigrant visas” per year for Iraqis. But the process is broken. The program is going so slowly, it is barely a program at all. In August, according to American news reports, a mere 10 visas were issued, and that is typical. We all have been told that our applications are on “administrative hold” while the U.S. runs security clearances on us (even though we already have gone through exhaustive security checks to get clearance to be on the bases). We are despairing at this point, and we worry that the U.S. government is closing the door on us. The looming pullout leaves us in extreme jeopardy as the Americans not only continue to delay issuing us visas but also expel us from the only safe places for us in Iraq. My fellow interpreters and I have worked as one with your military. We shared pain and laughter; we shared the same objectives. We grieved together over fallen colleagues. Here is what I would now ask of the Americans: Please help us. Let us come to the United States. I can promise you we will work hard and be productive and good citizens. Please, please expedite our visas. We may not be able to hold our breath much longer.” I am utterly opposed to the massive third world immigration that is destroying our country and want a near moratorium on all immigration. These people at least did stick there necks out for us and our cause. If we can allow eventually almost two milion Vietnamese into our country, in the aftermath of that war, why not them? Nevermind the constant “settling”(really colonizing) of alien peoples into our nation, whom we have no concievable obligation to(Somalia, Pakistan, “Palestine”, Mexico to name just a few) or cultural affiliation. Their numbers… Read more »
This is something that always bothered me. How come the Terps who walked the same ground (often unarmed) not deserving of recognition, and respect?
Sam, my terp on my second tour wanted to get out of there with a passion. I don’t know what happened to him, but I think he deserved an out. He never failed when we needed him
Just like the Montagnards and Vietnamese we abandoned at the end in RVN. I’m still ashamed.
It is a national shame that we have so consistently in recent decades turned our backs on our allies.
We must continue to place the blame for that shame squarely where it belongs – on the backs of the progressives. Failing to defend ourselves and our allies costs real human lives. In many cases, those who least deserve it because they are killed simply for supporting US.
If they can get to Mexico, they’re in like Flynn.
My terp, Dexter, wanted to come to the states. He’d been a terp for five years and had started the process two years before he ended up supporting my team. He’d been shot twice (once in the ass, and once in the foot) and never let us down.
He was given contradictory information, bounced from place to place, and from person to person until we were fed up with it.
It took about six months for us to get the paperwork and process that he had started two years earlier to go through. We had to go out of our way to plan missions to JBB and the Green Zone just to hand carry paperwork and escort him through a process seems designed to fail him out, all because they’d dick him around but not us.
The process is a mess. Its like it was designed by the TSA. Here is a guy with a security clearance, who’d supported us for five years, had a stack of letters of recommendations from Cols on down, certificates of appreciation, and a degree from the University of Baghdad. It turns out the degree was a problem, because he earned it under Sadam, and in order to go to the University you had to be a member of the Baathist party.
The process is insane. Even for a government run program.