Iraq: Assassination for All Iraqi Interpreters!!! · Global Voices
Salam Adil

This is the view that Iraqi Interpreter took of a decision made by the commander of the Multinational Forces in Iraq. Under a new rule, Iraqis who work alongside American soldiers as interpreters are to be required to not cover their face while they take part in operations with the US military. Or as Iraqi Interpreter put it:
It's like they want to say :
HEY IRAQI PEOPLE…HERE THEY ARE…THE IRAQI INTERPRETERS…NOW YOU GET CHANCE TO SEE THEIR FACES…DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO OF THEM, KILL THEM,TOURTURE THEM, WE DON'T CARE.
He speculates that the decision is a blatant attempt to force Iraqis working with the US army to resign instead of claiming asylum in America and adds that a recent theft of the list of local interpreters is part of the same policy.
Knowing that his life is now under threat whether he work or not, Iraqi Interpreter is both defiant and proud:
believe me or not, when I begun this job, I [knew] very well, that the death will be our faith, so it doesn't matter no more… I'll continue work until the last breath, not for the Iraq, not for the SIV, not for the Americans …………… but For live (for the money that I use to feed my family)
What's Happing in Mosul
Mama, writing about the explosion opposite her house.
Several bloggers have written about recent news that Christians were being persecuted and forced to leave Iraq's second city, Mosul.
Mama lives in Mosul and writes about how security suddenly deteriorated after the campaign began. She writes:
Brutishly, Christian Iraqi citizens were threatened, attacked and many were killed without any reason, and 2000 families were forced to leave their homes in their own country… then things began sinking so badly many explosions ,car bombs and assassinations took place . my house was among the losses. again our windows doors and some other damages had to be fixed. But what about our emotions? it can't be repaired? the fear, everything was ruined in our life can't be restored.
Sunshine, Mama's daughter, also writes about the explosion near her house and about the Iraqi Christians she knows:
this week was really bad, the situation became unbearable, the terrorists killed many Christians, and bombed their houses for no reason but trying to separate us from each other (which won't happen, our hearts are with the Christians in Mosul, we are praying for them continuously), many families left their city, and went to country side, I am so worried about all Christians I know, my neighbors, teachers, and friends, my best friend in the whole world is Christian, I don't know what will happen to me if terrorists hurts her or her family, I hope she'll remain safe, I pray for her and all Iraqis every single day..
I can't imagine that my neighbors, friends, and teachers who taught me for years, in kindergarten, primary and secondary were forced to leave and that they are living in the villages or churches, I heard that my favorite teacher is living in the tent, with her family and kids who left school, such a respectful loving and caring woman who taught generations for over than 30 years shouldn't live in a tent and be treated this way, nor the other Christians ..
What the hell the government is waiting for? 2000 families left Mosul last week, the terrorists are everywhere killing and threatening innocent Iraqis who belong to different religions and casts,.. we want a solution and we want it NOW ..
Baghdad Dentist on an explosion he witnessed in Mosul.
Layla Anwar gives some background to the Christian community in Mosul and decides who is responsible:
The Christians of Iraq are one of the oldest, most ancient Christian communities in the whole of the Middle East… Chaldeans and Assyrians constitute the bulk of the Christians of Iraq. They are Iraqis through and through, from time immemorial…They are one of the main arteries, veins, of this bleeding Iraqi heart. An essential aorta. A primordial piece of what used to be the most beautiful mosaic of ethnicities and sects, cohabiting peacefully for centuries…
This last week has witnessed the most brutal violent persecution against our brothers and sisters in Faith. Over 3'000 Iraqi Christian families have been forcibly evicted from their homes in Mosul. Mosul was known to have an equal number of Christians and Muslims, who have peacefully coexisted and intermarried for years and years. Contrary to other Arab countries where Christian minorities exist, like in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan or Palestine, intermarriage between Christians and Muslims was common in Iraq. I am a living proof…
What is this irony of history, where under a fundamentalist christian occupation, a “born again” occupation, the true Christians are persecuted. What is this ? Will someone explain it to me for God's sake !
… The ones who have been driving out the Iraqi Christians from Mosul are none other than your “wonderful” Kurds… Today, a communiqué from the Assyrian community confirms that the ones who are persecuting the Iraqi Christians of Mosul are none than … Kurds.
Status of Forces
A new law is being pushed thought the Iraqi parliament to give American soldiers the right to remain in Iraq after the deadline for their UN mandate ends this year. While there has been much controversy in the news, Iraqi bloggers give their own unique perspectives.
Raed makes his own translation of a leaked copy of the agreement and writes:
I think it's really interesting that while the bush administration are putting the last touches on this long term agreement with their Iraqi allies, bush issued a new presidential signing statement last week specifically to allow the U.S. government to control Iraq's oil resources! The statement was issued as a response to a congressional law that prohibits the U.S. government from taking control over Iraq's oil and gas resources.
What a great message to be given at this time: not only we're planning to occupy your country military, but we also have the intention of steeling your oil and gas.
Iraq the Model sees such an agreement as a positive step for Iraq. Mohammed argues:
it will mark the beginning of a time in which Iraq is officially a partner of the U.S., as it will join Iraq and the U.S. in a new relationship that serves the national interests of both countries. Above all, it will be a major boost for the effort in the war on terror as it will guarantee that Iraq will not fall prey to extremists. It will ensure that Iraq becomes a barrier against the aspirations of extremists, not a vessel that conveys them. In my opinion this treaty will set the foundations for a new Middle East ripe for transformation and for joining the free world.
While Hammorabi takes the opposing point of view:
We the Iraqis do not want to see the American occupation goes behind the end of the existed mandate. There should be no one occupiers left in Iraq in few months time and if any one stayed then it should be targeted as an occupiers. If the pact as such is going to be signed then those who sign it will be traitors and will be treated as such by the Iraqi resistance. At such time the resistance will not be among certain groups but it will be Jihad against the infidels and the occupiers…
The American pact is nothing but humiliation to the Iraqis. This is against the interest and the sovereignty of the Iraqi people and no one should put himself in a position to sign it. In fact such pact with the Americans who destroyed Iraq since 1991 and killed millions of its children by two wars and 12 years barbaric sanction followed by occupation, such pact is nothing but an aggression not against Iraq alone but against Islam and other Muslims.
While Jenan just wonders about the complex wording of the agreement. She writes:
I don't know why the Americans do not say that the immunity they want for their solders is absolute immunity. They are only outside this immunity when the troops are off duty and off their military bases. In addition to that, the American have the authority to determine whether their troops are on duty or not … It is like “entrust a cat with piece of meat” (Iraqi proverb)…. The American negotiators should say that they want absolute immunity and nothing less. They don't need waste time and their effort in worthless, long sentences. As Iraqis we want transparency in this agreement. Iraqis want words that have one meaning, no more no less.
No country should ever give permission to kill its people without consequences.