On November 13th, Intersections hosted its fourth conversation exploring the cost of war, at home and abroad. Iraqi Voices featured three Iraqis who have been recently resettled to the United States. All three had worked with the US government during the early stages of the war, a choice that later marked them as targets, forcing them to leave family and country in order to seek safer ground. Moderated by Anisa Medhi, an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, the conversation provided an in-depth look at the many “costs” of the Iraq War, both personal and political.

To protect the identities of the Iraqis participating in our discussion, only their first names were used. Assad was a translator in Iraq, now living in Ithaca, NY, where he teaches Arabic at Ithaca College. Ameer has a Bachelors in English and is currently living with his family in Dearborn, MI. Ehab, who made it to the US with the help of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, now works with one of the law firms handling the immigration cases of Iraqi refugees.

All three shared stories of their desire to work with the Americans in 2003, as they believed they were helping to build a new life and brighter future for Iraqis. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and as the occupation wore on with little of the promised improvements to infrastructure materializing and a continuing escalation of violence, Ehab, Ameer and Assad were in ever growing danger. “The Americans inherited Saddam’s position in the minds of the Iraqi people. So whatever happened in Iraq the Iraqi people blamed the United States for it, but then they couldn’t see the Americans, the Americans were behind the green zones, they could see me Ameer and Assad and we were very obvious…we were the collaborators, we were the ones making the Americans work in Iraq… So we were the ones to be blamed.”

Eventually all three made it safely out of Iraq, but not without significant hardship. Ehab’s journey took him more than a year and took him through India, Syria and Egypt before he made it to Arizona. Assad is still getting used to the snow in Ithaca, but is grateful for the warm reception he has received there. “I think they understand we have suffered a lot, we were very welcomed.”

While the future of Iraq is uncertain, all three Iraqis shared their hopes that their country will be rebuilt and that young people will feel like they have a future there. It is clear that this can not happen without the participation of the Iraqi people and that political realities and timelines for withdrawal are extremely complicated. In the meantime, America is deeply honored by all the Iraqis that risked so much in helping us and Intersections extends them a warm welcome.

To hear an audio recording of the presentation from this discussion, please visit us here.

Tags: Cost of War, Intersections, Iraq

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