An interpreter in Basra

Interpreters are the most neglected yet very much needed individuals in the Army in Iraq, when I first got there; in my mind I had a different perception of what is an interpreter supposes to be. People seem to see us (interps.) as spoiled, unnecessary and over paid brats. That is way far from the truth, we were the lowest paid and most worked people in the whole place. Soldiers change shifts, but we remain with every shift. Involving parties in the conversation talk once, we talk twice not mention a quick and direct translation is not easy by anyone’s standards.

There are 3 categories of interpreters
- Local interpreters – Iraqis, hardworking, educated and most ill treated individuals.
- TCN (Third Country Nationals), this was my category, most are people who are just trying to make a living and never complain, few were ass kissers, hustlers, don’t know shit and free riders, the competent ones were overlooked, and unappreciated, why and how?, don’t ask me, I left the job and I still didn’t find an answer for that.
- KBR – Kellogg Brown & Root Interpreters, They are probably the highest paid people in the whole place, these guys, I really admire them, they understood the system, worked as minimum as possible, mastered the art of do fuck all and get away with it, to be fair few of them were professionals and worked strictly based on their contracts, most spend more time on leave than actual work, and they do not go outside the base or on a convoy, taking risks is out of the question for them.

Local interpreters: (The LECs “Locally employed contractors” as everyone calls them)

Their case is typical case of human in need, they need the job to put food on the table, everybody knows that, and everyone is using that against them, they are overworked, always threatened to be fired for any wrong doing no matter how minor it may be.

I have made friends with some of the local interpreters, I was the probably the only TCN who made real friendship with the local interps., everyone mistrusts them, the army, the other interpreters, I mean everyone, but the truth is these individuals are highly intelligent, dedicated and very much educated. Most of them were English teachers or some kind of teachers before the war either at the university or high school level.
Each of them has a unique story, some of them even though their family members were killed or threatened to be killed because they worked with the coalition army, they kept doing their job and never complained, they live in constant fear, a lot of them left the job forcefully because they were fearful for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Some got killed after a year of leaving the job, some got killed while on the job, their stories are heartbreaking and no one is there to listen, few officers and soldiers sympathize with them but that is about it.

So much to say about them, and how they are treated by everyone, but I guess I don’t know where to begin and what story to tell, each has a story of why they took this job and what their experiences were, the only common thing among their stories is fear and harsh life with no hope for a better future.

I always wondered why the army recruited TCNs since there were so many educated Iraqis who could do a better job, know the culture and have better understanding of their own people’s mentality, I mean they could be just the people to do the job, but later I found out the reasons for that.

- First reason was high turnover among local interpreters due to fear for their lives or the low payment they were receiving.
- Second reason was (I am guessing and I probably this was true, as I was told by some Iraqis) distrust of the army for locals, they were seen a liability and security hazardous, besides there is also moral obligation towards these locals after the army leaves the country, they might have to take those with them, since their lives will be in danger, and the army possibly didn’t want that.

The alternative was to recruit TCNs, with no obligation whatsoever, paid them end of month salary and that is it, no other attachments, no pensions, no end of service compensation, all the army had to do is give them a month notice and end their contract anytime they feel like it with of course the usual one month notice policy to comply to UK labor policies just in case.

TCN (Third Country National) Interpreters

So much to tell about TCNs, they are from a different countries, some Arabs, and others non Arabs, they came from Somalia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan, Nepal and Gulf countries, some took the job for simply to make a living, other for adventure and experience, crazy as it seems adventure was my reason one for taking the job. All TCNs were recruited from Kuwait, they were people from other countries but reside in Kuwait.

TCNs were cheap and easy to find, most of them were average people, some with no education at all, not even a primary school, I sometimes felt they were hired on purpose knowing a lot of them were no good for the job, that way the budget was used properly and it was easy to control them, few of us were highly educated and were seen as trouble makers, because we argued and asked questions when we were neglected, one thing I really didn’t understand was, we were hired as interpreters, meaning doing only verbal interpretation, since our typing or any other relevant skills were not tested, but used as translators.

Only some of us were used as translators and paid as interpreters, all I did was translating documents, sometimes files and training materials all the time and I found out that translators were paid more than interpreters, and when I asked for an upgrade, I was simply ignored, even my supervisor wrote a letter to the Interpreters’ cell explaining that I was a translator not interpreter but he was ignored too.

I was most frustrated with the TCNs, few of us tried to organize them so that we ask better treatment but no use, and I wasn’t surprised, without skills or any sort of degree, they wouldn’t find a better job, it was life time opportunity for them, I almost left the job because of TCNs, I felt the profession was degraded because of some of these interpreters, if that is how I felt, imagine what would the educated local interpreters feel since they were getting paid 30% of what TCNs were getting paid!

I really never figured out what was going on with the British Army, was it just simple disorganization, or they just didn’t care what they were doing there, the good TCNs who didn’t complain were over utilized with translations and the good but trouble makers were send to insignificant places, bad ones were put in crucial offices and there were always problems and TCNs in general were blamed, I am sure the Army new it was their fault from the start, first they hired the wrong people due to their ineffective recruitment system, then got lucky getting some good ones but again making the mistake of putting the wrong ones in the right places and good ones in the wrong places. Then they wonder what went wrong.

To make it worse the army was dismissing their best TCN interpreters for various reasons, some TCNs knew they were good and were overconfident so they broke few rules and thought they could get away with it simply because the army had few good TCNs and thought they were indispensable, but apparently no one was indispensable, others were dismissed because they were complaining so much. There was also a grouping within TCNs each group trying to eliminate members of the other group just because they didn’t like them and informing the LSU (Labor Support Unit) about them and making fake allegations, sometimes accusing them with serious untrue allegations, LSU claims to do investigation before they make any judgments or decisions, but that was not always the case, sometimes they take what a group of TCNs say against one interpreter and according make their decision. But there was always a new recruit, and that was the main reason of marginalizing TCNs. There was more where they came from, simple as that. When the supply becomes more than demand, the product loses its value, unfortunately that applies to humans too.