Former Iraqi translator tells of threats

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - A former Iraqi translator for the U.S. military says his life was saved when he was granted a special visa to live in the United States, a status made available to only 50 Afghan and Iraqi nationals annually who served in the same capacity.

The 27-year-old Sunni Arab, set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, says he was threatened by enraged fellow students at his college, survived a car bombing and learned his name was listed on the doors of mosques calling for his death.

The former translator, who will not use his real name, and a second witness who held a similar job were to testify behind screens to protect their identities.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has argued for an increase in the number of translator visas. Only the translators themselves count toward the 50-visa limit, but their spouses and children may be able to join them in this country after the visa is issued.

Kennedy, who will head the committee's subcommittee on refugees, said an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis have fled their country since the U.S.-led invasion. The hearing will focus on those who were affiliated with the U.S. government.

"The desperate situation in Iraq has created hundreds of thousands of refugees who are virtually unknown to the rest of the world," Kennedy said in a statement. "We can't continue to ignore their plight."

In his prepared testimony, the translator said that when he was attending Mosul University in October 2003, he escorted a U.S. soldier to the campus.

"I was assaulted and threatened with violence," the translator said. "After the incident, the dean with whom I had discussed the U.S. soldier's visit turned on me and threatened to expel me."

The Iraqi had to leave the school, but later returned for his degree. That incident, however, was only the beginning of the threats.

"My life was in jeopardy," he said, when he translated discussions between U.S. forces and the Mosul police chief, who later was arrested for working with terrorists.

Once his name was listed on the doors of mosques, the translator said, he could no longer attend prayer services.

He became an outcast in his Mosul neighborhood, where "some individuals I have known all my life branded me a traitor and made death threats against me."

The translator resigned his position in 2004, but returned to Iraq the next year to earn his degree. In November 2005, he was seriously injured in a car bombing that singed off his eyebrows. He believes he was targeted.

He arrived in the United States that month on a temporary visitor visa. By March of this year, he had free legal help from a major law firm.

The translator was advised in June that he had become the first to be granted the special visa, which was part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2006.