Iraqi Translator Seeks American Future

Ammar Abdul Rasool Abaas, a former Iraqi interpreter for the U.S. military who wants asylum in the U.S, prepares a car in Irbil, a city in the Kurdish controlled north Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007. Now Abaas, who quit his post and fled Baghdad because of the threats, wants to restart his life in the United States. So far, he's made it only as far as Iraq's northern Kurdish region with a thicket of bureaucracy and uncertainties still ahead.(AP Photo/Aiyod Mawloodi) (Aiyod Mawloodi - AP)

Soon after Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003, Abaas got a job as a vehicle mechanic with an American contractor in Baghdad's Green Zone. Two men visited Abaas' wife, Samah.

"He's a good guy," they told her, according to Abaas. "But we took his photo when he was going to work. Tell him to quit. We'll give him five days. If he doesn't quit, we'll kill him."

Abaas left the job, but running his own garage became impossible as security deteriorated. Months later, he got a job as an interpreter at Camp Anaconda, a U.S. base near Balad, north of Baghdad.

He was issued a helmet, a flak vest and uniform. Later, he was allowed to carry a weapon on some missions. One of his early combat experiences was a 10-day stint in the deadly alleys of Samarra, where the Sunni-dominated insurgency was active.

On Oct. 25, 2004, Abaas was interpreting for Sgt. 1st Class Jorge Diaz as he questioned a detainee with suspected insurgent links. The prisoner's hands were bound. Court-martial documents, made public last month by the American Civil Liberties Union, summarize Abaas' statement:

"According to the interpreter, SFC Diaz pointed his weapon at the victim and said, `If you don't tell me, I'll shoot you.' At this point, according to the interpreter, SFC Diaz shot him. The interpreter confirms in his statement that the victim was standing when he was shot and his hands were handcuffed behind his back. The interpreter states that the victim showed no signs of force or act aggressive toward SFC Diaz or any other soldier present."

Diaz initially said the detainee made a move toward him. Another soldier backed up his story, though he later said he made that statement out of loyalty to Diaz and retracted it. Some testimony from troops in Diaz's unit referred to Abaas as unreliable and a "liar," but others urged him to tell investigators what he had seen.

Diaz is serving seven years in military lockup for the killing and the mistreatment of an Iraqi teenager in a separate case.

Abaas carries a Feb. 10, 2005 letter from a U.S. army captain at Camp Anaconda.

"Based on our interactions and his previous employment history with Army units, I trust him," reads the letter, signed by Capt. Edward Quayle. "Ammar is a very perceptive and intelligent man with an education background in engineering. He is proficient in English and understands soldier slang."

Sitting in his sparsely furnished home in Irbil, Abaas recited "chow hall," "What's up?" and other American lingo that he never learned while studying English in Baghdad schools _ most of it obscene chatter picked up from soldiers.

But he carries mixed feelings about his former battlefield companions. He recalled a time when he dozed in a Humvee on a pre-dawn mission. Apparently thinking Abaas was asleep, a soldier sneered when he heard the prayer call from a mosque, Abaas claimed.