Former Iraqi translator urges U.S. to help
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The invasion of Iraq by fighters of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq has
Iraq's leaders calling for U.S. military aid.
It's a call Sarah, a young woman who helped U.S. forces in Iraq, hopes the United States will answer.
"As an Iraqi who cares about Iraq, I wish this country would get involved."
Sarah was born in Baghdad and is not using her real name to protect family members still living there. After the U.S. invasion worked as a translator and a cultural advisor to American forces. She understands the difficult situation this country faces in responding.
"If they get involved they get blamed, if they don't get involved they get blamed, so it is a critical situation. But as an Iraqi I wish they would send some troops to help."
In Iraq Sarah worked with Ken Shockley, now a legal investigator in Fresno he served in the State Department as a police and military adviser.
"We trained a lot of these young men and women and when I see the news clips, Iraqi soldiers surrendering and then being executed, it's disheartening. We thought we did good job training, we never expected that."
Sarah says it's a mistake to believe this is just a religious war between Iraqi factions. She says it's primarily an invasion by foreign fighters.
"They are not Iraqi's they come from out of the country they fight and kill families, and they call it jihad against whoever and what they are doing is just they are fighting against our own people."
In addition to hoping for U.S. military assistance she is heartened to see Iraqis taking up arms to help their military fight back.
"If the Iraqis wake up and team up to push those people out of the way and get them out of the country then we won't have that problem anymore, we will have a unified country."
Because of her assistance to the United States Sarah and her immediate family have been allowed to come to the United States. She is on her way to Washington D.C. where she hopes to resume working for the State Department.
