American-Employed Iraqi Interpreter Gunned Down by Family

As the United States proceeds with its withdrawal plan, which will see some 50,000 American soldiers redeployed out of Iraq by summer’s end, U.S.-affiliated Iraqis — the interpreters, civil experts, and others who’ve courageously supported efforts to improve security and rebuild their tattered nation — are increasingly isolated and susceptible to attack by Iraqi insurgents all too eager to begin settling scores.

With a target on their backs and their allies withdrawing, one would expect American-affiliated Iraqis to turn inward — to their families and perhaps a small circle of lifelong, trustworthy friends — for moral support and corporeal protection. And one would hope that they could count on those familial and fraternal bonds to see them through the bleak days ahead. One would hope.

An Iraqi interpreter, Hameed al-Daraji, who’d worked for the U.S. military for some seven years, was gunned down by his son and nephew in his Samarra home late last week. According to the Associated Press’ early reporting, al-Daraji’s family had fought often with the erstwhile translator for continuing to “collaborate” with the Americans and demanded he quit, an entreaty that he persistently refused. Al-Daraji’s son and nephew, who shot their father and uncle in the chest at point-blank range, were apparently put up to the shooting by an al-Qaeda linked group.

Killings like these should come as no surprise since U.S.-affiliated Iraqis have been peppered with a barrage of dangers and hails of bullets for more than half a decade, not to mention an Islamic extremist group’s recent bone-chilling, bloodcurdling promise of "nine bullets for the traitors." What’s stunning is that the Obama Administration continues to be MIA when it comes to getting America’s Iraqi allies out of harms way.

With COIN (as counterinsurgency is known to its advocates) all the rage these days, the United States is paying more attention than ever before to “winning hearts and minds” and protecting civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, albeit with limited success. In fact, one of the reasons President Obama chose to sack Gen. Stanley McChrystal was because his, let’s say, undiplomatically-verbose comments to Rolling Stone gave the impression that Team America — as McChrystal’s staff reportedly called itself — was more concerned about taking cheap-shots at the vice-president and Obama’s diplomats than about, well, protecting civilians. Yet, U.S.-affiliated Iraqis are gunned down every week on the streets of Baghdad, Samarra, and elsewhere — and the administration does nothing. What’s wrong with this picture?

Photo credit: The U.S. Army