M's Story
(name withheld for his security)
I
had a small business in Iraq. We did paperwork for people, typing
and... just doing computer maintenance and formatting for computers.
There was nothing to talk about then because you know how Iraq was
before 2003. Let me put it this way: it was hell. Just before the
war we thought we have no future, no future at all. We were living
day by day. We thanked God in the morning because we were alive and
we prayed to God every night because we were still alive.
On the 19th of April 2003 I went to the military base in Nassriyah where I was living and I applied to work as an interpreter. I thought there would be a change in my life and my kids' life. We were all very glad, very happy, me and my family, about this thing. We thought there was a lot of change coming for our lives. Change for the best.
Unfortunately in July 2003 something happened in my life. My first wife passed away.
(But my job with the U.S. Army) was a great step for me -- a step forward. You can't just sit aside waiting for someone to change your life or change your community. You have to work for it. Just working in that position would give me lots of freedom to work and learn from people I am working with. My first work there (in Iraq as an interpreter) I thought I'm taking this job to help my people and my country.
(Then) on the 3rd of May 2005 I started working with the army in Camp Buca (in Basra). It was a great job. My supervisor said 'you are like a professional American. You are more American than Iraqi!' This is the kind of life I wanted for myself. This is the kind of life I wanted for my family. I want to be free. I want to feel free. Nobody asking 'why you are saying this idea, don't do this, don't do that.' The militias, al Qaeda they don't want us to go forward. I start working at Camp Buca (and it was) so hard for me to go outside the gate because I'm already a familiar face for terrorists.
On 10 August 2006 I was riding in a taxi with my family and a car just tried to force our taxi to pull over. The taxi driver refused to stop. They hit the taxi from the rear and the taxi started turning upside down. One of my sons was cracked in the skull and he got brain atrophy. My son Ahmed fracture in his jaws. Hadeer, (my daughter) her shoulder bone fractured. My kids got in a kind of shock.
(Then) I was kidnapped on the 19th of January 2007 when I as coming home from the base where I was working. They took me down and handcuffed me and put a bag on my head and prevented me from seeing. It was a militia. It's a miracle I'm still alive from this. Since the 19th of January I stopped working from Camp Buca. I started working for the Titan (L-3 Titan Group which contracts with the US Army to supply interpreters) regional office in Diwaniya in central Iraq. I was hired to be in the office just doing the paperwork. I worked for almost 21 months as an interpreter at Camp Buca and I worked for two months as a recruiter in Titan regional office in Diwaniya.
On the 20th of April 2007 a car was parked by an Iraqi army checkpoint. (He left the base in Diwaniya in a taxi and) they started chasing our car and shooting me and the taxi driver from AK-47s. So that was the third (incident after) one assassination attempt and one abduction. I decided to flee from Iraq. There was no place for me or for my family in Iraq.
When I told (Titan) about this accident, the first assassination attempt, I emailed them and they were asking about me all the time. I stayed at home for three days and they made sure everything is ok. Except for my son Hussein, who they couldn't provide any medical treatment for him although there is a very, very big hospital at Camp Buca. They said 'we are sorry we can't do anything for your son. Just take him to the local hospital.'
Then after that 3rd assassination attempt I did succeed to get (Hussein) in the (Camp Buca) hospital. This facility is for detainees you shouldn't take your (family) into it. They said there is liquid on (Hussein's) brain. The brain is under pressure. One of the American doctor's recommendation for Hussein was he should be treated from the age of 6 months to 18 months. Now he is 27 months and he didn't get any kind of treatment.
He is only 22 lbs. You can't find a two-year-old boy with 22 lbs weight. He is only 81 cm of height, it should be more than that. He needs very, very advanced surgeon to do treatment for him. I am by myself here with my family.
On 7 May 2007 I left for Syria (with his seven kids). It is very difficult here. I am not allowed to work because we are refugees. We are just living on charity and a Christian group giving us charity for five months. Only last month we got food from the UNHCR. I spent all my savings. We have residency visa I think is going to be expired in May. I don't know if they are going to renew it or not. Even if they take us to the borders, I'm not going to live in Iraq (because) that's very dangerous. I will live in a tent more than going to Iraq.
Hussein he needs a brain surgery and I think there is a moral obligation now. They are not obliged to take us as a family but at least they can take an individual who needs treatment. I told them before, I don't want to go there if there is no place for me in the United States. But please just look for my son Hussein if you can take my son and get surgeries for him and send him back to me. Just let him have that hope.
I went to the US embassy in Syria (to send Hussein to the US) and they said 'well you need to fill out a form and then you have to look to find a general for a recommendation for you.'
I told them 'I risked my life, my family's life - and all the sudden you just dump me and say 'go look for a general'? Where do you think I can find a general? I can't leave Syria. I can't go back to Iraq. I can't go to the street, so where can I find a general? This is ridiculous! I emailed the White House. I emailed the first lady. I emailed Oprah Winfrey. I emailed Angelina Jolie. And nobody answered. I sent a fax to Senator Edward Kennedy. I didn't get any answers up to this day.
Maybe one day all this conflict in Iraq will reach an end. But for us, people that work for the US government and the US Army, we're not going to be able to go back to Iraq. Some of the Iraqis look for us as infidels. Some of them look for us as traitors. Some others look for us as spies. So you can't live in a community that looks at you like a spy or a traitor or an infidel.
The same is here (in Syria). I have very, very limited connections here. I leave home just to buy stuff from the grocery next door, then go to the internet for a while. That's it. Because I lived for two years at Camp Buca and just imagine at Camp Buca there is (thousands of) Iraqi detainees. Some of them are al Qaeda. Some of them from Mehdi Army (miltia). Some of them are innocent. And they have the right for at least one visitation a month. Some of them are visited by people so it's logic if only two people visited each detainee a month that's (tens of thousands of ) people who can recognize me easily. Multiply that number for two years, you will find a huge number. That's why I'm scared here (in Syria). I don't go out a lot. I don't have any entertainment options. Even I don't go to take the kids to the garden or the park because I'm afraid someone is going to recognize me.
I want to thank a lot of friends really who supported me all the time. They encourage me to hang on.