In Basra sits the wreckage from one of more than a dozen coordinated car bombs insurgents exploded across Iraq on Monday, July 29, 2013. AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani
Once an Iraqi Interpreter, Now an American Soldier
The American dream -- and the fear of post-war Baghdad -- has led tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees to the U.S. For one former interpreter to the U.S. military, the only way to stay was to join up.
The American dream for many immigrants is just that -- a dream. The reality is much different and often much harder. For one Iraqi who risked his life as an interpreter for U.S. troops and journalists during the war, and is now an American troop himself, the reality of America is particularly hard to navigate.
His tale, starting in a matchbox apartment in New York City, is one example of the 85,000 Iraqi refugees who worked for the U.S. and have been granted asylum since 2007. It is told in a portrait published on the new Al Jazeera America.
“Using the subway, the buses, not having a car -- New York is crowded; it’s a very busy, fast-paced city, and it wasn’t easy. The only thing that kept us going was that we’re safe here. We don’t have people chasing us, trying to kidnap us -- all the dangers we faced every single day back home,” said the man, who still keeps his rank and identity secret for his own safety, fearing that reprisals from Iraq will follow him to his Middle America.
Now, Iraqis struggle with becoming American while maintaining an Iraqi identity for their children.
“In a bad economy, I said, if you can get an opening at Walmart, take it,” Ibrahim says. “This was the American dream, they thought they were going to come here and have a great job and middle-class life; they couldn’t come to terms with reality.”
Read more at Al Jazeera America here.