"...Mid July 2004, and the assassinations started."

In his own words, "Patrick", a very senior translator, writes about the worsening security, he has encountered since 2003.

Dear friends

My story is neither unique nor including fancy imagination.

It is a story of an Iraqi citizen who started working with Coalition in the middle of April 2003 as interpreter.

Mid July I was moved to work with RTI (Research Triangle Institute) an international American institute contracted by USAID to carry out the program of Local Governance Project. I was hired first to perform the role of a translator and coordinator between the CPA, the British Forces, RTI and the Governorate which was not established. I helped coordinating Technical Secretariat Meetings which had been held weekly which helped most of the donors’ organizations, the CPA and the British Forces. I was not only coordination but also supplying the agenda, writing the minutes of the meetings which alter not distributed to all attendee that helped much providing assistance in the submission and guidance for the provision of different services and also to give an overall estimate of things needed to be done.

In the above meetings, most of the secular, Islamic parties attended such meetings which focused the light on my presence which highlighted my figure making me under the attention of the good and bad people who attended such meetings. To the good people, I was very sincere in trying to provide the help I can and the words of thanks were a great pleasure to my simple nature BUT the great difficulty I faced was from the extremist especially the militias such as the Mahdi and Bader militia who were focusing on us and describing me as one of the traitors who deserved to be punished.

This began mid July 2004 and assassinations started, concentrating on people working in the governorate or with the INVADORS as they call them and call me a TRAITOR. They assassinated Mr. ESAM AL-AYNACHI, deputy governor of Basra who was the main link in the chain between RTI, CPA, and British Forces whom I usually coordinate with especially when I became the Head of the RTI team in Basra attending such meetings.

So, I had to take the security profile needed to protect myself and family; therefore I applied for another job with the USAID in a type of work which kept me a way from the eyes of such militias. The work of USAID was in a secure compound in the Basra International airport. This didn’t take longer period of security away from the eyes of such militias.

A decision was made from higher people to move our location to the presidential palace where the American regional embassy was located near the center of the city. Being a known figure in the city as I had xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx before retirement, I was again under the focus and threats which increased in size end of April, May and June 2006 in which many of my colleagues who either left their jobs or assassinated in spite of the low profile we were doing our work. My American supervisors allowed our team to report and did our work from home and attend our office when necessity arises.

The last killing was newly married couple working for the Regional embassy office that we worked together under one umbrella of the State Department. Lots of assassinations for my colleagues in addition to the threat leaflets and telephone calls made me and family in a state of great fear. For me I had to change the houses once at my mother’s house another in my brother’s, my house, and my father’s in law. I left the country for short periods to xxxxxxxxxxx twice and to xxxxxxxxxx; however I had to return because my mother fell down and had a broken hip. She stayed at home and I had to take care of her until she died end of August 2006. I was released from the heavy obligation and the threat of killing me for working for the Americans, was the main cause.

Other reasons for taking the decision of leaving the country on the xx xxxxxxxxx, 2006 to xxxxxx, were I am from A shii family , my wife was sunni, a mixture which we never felt a threat before. Where shall we live?? In what neighborhood. Other reasons, my daughter going to college without hijab and I had a daughter who is studying in UK under scholarships was also a threat that came from people who could be called intellectuals.

A mixture of such reasons made me think deeply of my safety, my family’s safety made me think of leaving the country till the security situation resolves itself. Now, it’s a year and there is no light at the end of the tunnel, my savings are about to end, the help from my brothers and family can stop anytime.