Words of War: The Iraqi Tower of Babel

Abstract

This paper surveys the linguistic aspects of the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq's multilingual society, focusing first on the multilingual character of Iraqi society and the Arabic, Kurdish, and other languages spoken in this rapidly changing society. Discussion then moves to an examination of the inherent difficulties in working across an English-Arabic ⁄ Kurdish divide and concludes by discussing the puzzling inability of the American government to grapple effectively with the linguistic challenges of political and military operations in the Middle East.

Resettling Afghan and Iraqi interpreters employed by Western armies: The Contradictions of the Migration–Security Nexus

“…The doctrinal focus in Afghanistan and Iraq on 'winning hearts and minds' for successful counter-insurgency operations made the role of linguistic and cultural mediators particularly pertinent. With insufficient linguistic skills present in Western militaries (Collin, 2009) and based on cost considerations (Bos and Soeters, 2006), a significant number of interpreters were recruited locally, either directly by states or through private contractors. Since LECs were often employed for years, in contrast to the international military who rotated on a yearly or six-monthly basis, they were also essential in providing institutional knowledge in a volatile environment.…”

“…Since LECs were often employed for years, in contrast to the international military who rotated on a yearly or six-monthly basis, they were also essential in providing institutional knowledge in a volatile environment. Despite extensive media interest in LECs and research in translation studies and anthropology about interpreters in conflict (Campbell, 2016; Collin, 2009; Footitt and Kelly, 2012; Inghilleri, 2010; Rafael, 2007; Rosendo and Muñoz, 2017), international relations scholarship has paid surprisingly scant interest to LECs as security actors or as migrants seeking protection (for an exception, see Baker, 2010: on locally recruited interpreters in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Baker, 2014; Kristensen, 2019).…”

A Pragmatics-based Appeal to Saving Face so as to Save Lives: On Intercultural Pragmatic Awareness (or rather: Lack thereof) in a Handbook for US Soldiers Deployed for Iraq

“…e.g. Collin, 2009;Nichols, 2014). 24 In his interviews with former soldiers sent to Iraq, Nichols (2014) explicitly recorded that "[t]he only word [a particular interviewee] remembered at that time was 'qif,' meaning 'stop'" (p. 151).…”

Moving Political Meaning across Linguistic Frontiers

“…No‐one knows how simultaneous translators do it, but they clearly cannot interrupt a shouting match in the UN General Assembly to explore a subtle political nuance. An interpreter brokering a negotiation between Kurdish and Arab militias in northern Iraq may worry more about not getting shot than not being perfectly understood (Collin, 2009). And personal ideological convictions may be at play.…”