http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2 <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10409863> &objectid=10409863
Interpreters executed for 'turning their back on Iraq' Thursday November 9, 2006 By Phil Sands AMMAN - Iraqi interpreters working with the British Army in Basra are being systematically hunted down and executed. At least 16 have been kidnapped and shot in the head over the last fortnight, their bodies dumped in different parts of the city. Another three are still missing. In a single mass killing, 12 interpreters were murdered. "This is not a general threat against Iraqi security forces, interpreters are specifically being killed," an Iraqi police officer familiar with the case said. "It has been happening at a low level for the last year, but the campaign is getting worse. "First they get letters warning them to stop co-operating with the occupation forces, then they are killed. The interpreters are the major target now. "Word spreads about who is working with the British - neighbours, people in the street, police officers all see the interpreters. Their identities don't remain very secret and someone is going around trying to kill them and they're succeeding." According to the British military, just one interpreter has been killed in the last month in an isolated incident. Army spokesman Major Charles Burbidge said the mass kidnapping and execution last week had killed 17 Iraqis working for the police, not translators for the British Army. But Iraqi security services are treating the incident as a specific attack on locals hired for their language skills, to work with the Multi-National Forces in Basra. Other interpreters and former interpreters have been killed in separate assassinations. "It used to be tolerable but now everyone openly calls us traitors," a 27-year-old interpreter who worked for the British at Bucca prison said. "When I leave the base no one is there to protect me and we all know we're being hunted, the militias say we are spies. "All of us live in terror for our lives. I want to stop this work but my family needs the money. "As far as the militias are concerned I have turned my back on Iraq." Tshasin Difaee, a 30-year-old former interpreter, said he quit after being threatened by Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. "They knew my name and I got a call on my mobile phone and was told to leave my job or lose my head." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
