An Iraqi Translator's Story
Bravery Needs No Translation tells the tale:
I am sad for us because a coward ruled our country for 35 years. He did not even have enough courage to kill himself. Now he will face the justice he prevented us from getting all these years.My people want Saddam Hussein to be tried here by our people with an Iraqi judge. All the people want to see his defense and what he will say about all the claims, the crimes against humanity, the use of chemical weapons in the north and the south of Iraq.
He was a war criminal in Iran and Kuwait. He took Kuwaiti hostages and killed them. He imprisoned hundreds from my village and killed some of them. He killed more Iraqis than anyone else.
The future is now in our hands. My people are afraid of civil war. We don't want the USA to leave us alone because another dictator could come. We want, by ourselves, to chose our president by election. I want to feel as if we have rights, and, more importantly, duties of citizens.
What would I say to the families of those US soldiers who have died? I am embarrassed because they are killed by my people. God bless them. My family prays to God to protect USA soldiers.
(He paused then, obviously emotional). We write down on a piece of paper the names of the US soldiers that we want God to protect. We place them in the Koran and ask God to help and protect them.
What would I say to the American people? You have to be proud of your sons. You have to be proud of your army. They are fighters for freedom.
Americans, for whom the late 90s are now the subject of nostalgia, might be surprised that our actions 30, 40 years ago weigh heavily on the minds of our friends and foes alike around the world. This Iraqi is right, we did dishonor our friends in South Vietnam, Cuba, and Iraq by abandoning them to life sentences (and sometimes death sentences) at the hands of dictators. In some sense, then, it is we who are on probation in the eyes of the world's oppressed, and it is we who are proving ourselves once again to be the greatest force for freedom in the history of the world.
