© Paddy Molloy
Hello, friends and supporters of TLP.
We’ve just launched our new site, which will be developed over the coming weeks and months principally to document our final effort here at the project: the final list.
For the past two years, we exhorted the Obama administration not to follow the mistakes of previous administrations as it implemented its withdrawal from Iraq. We saw a very clear crisis forming on the horizon: the bureaucratic process in which our Iraqi allies are struggling to navigate currently takes well over one year to get an Iraqi to safety. The Departments of State and Homeland Security were already dealing with huge backlogs of applicants before the withdrawal; once we shuttered hundreds of bases, we would ‘cut loose’ many thousand more U.S.-affiliated Iraqis who were no longer needed by our departing forces.
We published a comprehensive report on the history of withdrawal. We testified before Congress. We wrote op-eds, and more op-eds. We met with administration officials and gave them more names. In the end, the White House decided that its policy would be one of wishful thinking. They simply don’t agree that our interpreters will be in harm’s way.
Never mind that hundreds, and likely well over a thousand have already been slain over the years. Never mind that various militias, terrorist groups, and senior clerics have explicitly threatened our Iraqi allies over the past year, telling them that they’ll have no future in Iraq. This administration ignored the intent of Congress and the warnings of so many in the advocacy community and did no contingency planning.
The consequences are unfolding. Since the media has withdrawn most of its reporters throughout Iraq, we have decided to make public the threats, assassination attempts, and other relevant incidents that the Iraqis on the List are currently experiencing. To move this beyond a debate between predictions and wishful thinking, we have decided to start posting the reality. Whether or not our Government responds remains to be seen.
Please bookmark this page, and start following us on Twitter and Facebook, where we will be posting all updates.
| Approximate Date | Perpetrator | Description of event | City | Province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/27/2012 | Islamic State of Iraq | "Sheikh" Abu Muhammad al-Adnani | ISI releases an audio statement, reaffirming its will to fight and drive out foreign influence, both American and Iranian. Included in the statement is a threat to our Iraqi allies : "[Iraq is] a shame upon the history of America! It has been defeated and no longer has the ability for direct confrontation since it signed the withdrawal agreement and fled from the cities to the military bases, to escape the trap of attrition it suffered for many years, and it is now returning to the proxy war. Our fight is still with their agents and their apostate followers, and the rejectionists (referring to Iraqi Shia and Iran, who he conflates here to make them seem like disloyal Iraqis). | N/A | N/A |
| 1/25/2012 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Iraqi on the List contacts us to report an attempted assassination. He has since fled his home and gone into hiding. | Baghdad (Al-Mansour) | Baghdad |
| 1/24/2012 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Iraqi contacts TLP to report that JAM attacked a U.S.-affiliated Iraqi who is waiting on a visa, along with his son. The Iraqi police declined to get involved, stating it was a tribal matter. | Baghdad (Mustansiriya) | Baghdad |
| 1/22/2012 | N/A | TLP Netroots volunteers report the assassination of a U.S.-affiliated Iraqi, while recovering in the hospital from a bomb attack. | N/A | N/A |
| 1/17/2012 | Islamic State of Iraq | A U.S. affiliated Iraqi emails TLP, notifying us that he came home to find a live pistol round at the door of his home, a telltale sign of threats by militants who wish to kill those affiliated with the U.S. | Baghdad(A'zamiyah) | Baghdad |
| 1/13/2012 | N/A | Iraqi contact relays that while leaving the International Zone (Green Zone) in Baghdad an unmarked sedan pulled up beside the car he and a colleague were riding in and three young men motioned with pistols for them to stop. After a high speed chase, they were able to reach a security checkpoint and escaped any harm. | Baghdad (International Zone) | Baghdad |
| 12/15/2011 | N/A | Iraqi contacts TLP, explaining that he was advised by a relative in Iraqi Army Intelligence that because Iraqi Government info on Iraqis working with U.S. may be given or fall into the wrong hands, that he should be very careful in months ahead. | N/A | N/A |
| 12/12/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Iraqi source in Baghdad tells us of info he received from a high level Iraqi government source, telling him that Sadrists at Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad are seeking to bar any U.S. affiliated Iraqi Interpreters and their family members, deeming them collaborators. Those who perpetrated the threat are remnants of the feared "League of Students" a group of Shia fundamentalist students who in the past have conducted violent campaigns on the campus, raping and killing a number of students and professors in a reign of terror that forced the University to temporarily close its doors in 2009. Some say the group still controls the security at the University and is looking to bar select students | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 11/24/2011 | Iraqi Police | Iraqi who worked with the U.S. contacts TLP, explaining that he had been threatened outside his home by an Iraqi policeman, who told him that he would be beheaded because he was a disloyal traitor and an American puppet. | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 11/21/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | List Project applicant notifies us that her husband was released from his work with the U.S. at the air base in Ramadi, as the Army prepares to hand over the base to Iraqi armed forces. Her husband is now hiding from elements of the Mahdi army, which he says are hunting down U.S. affiliated Iraqis in the area. | Ramadi | Al-Anbar |
| 11/20/2011 | N/A | Iraqi Newspaper Sabah al-Jadeed (New Morning) reports from Baquba that Iraqi personnel who have worked with Americans, from government officials to translators, are currently disposing of any photographs or documents that associate them with Americans. This is being done out of fear of retribution from extremists. | Baquba | Diyala |
| 11/16/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | More Iraqis contact TLP in desperation regarding rumors that that Jaysh Al-Mahdi will target in force Iraqis who worked with the United States after withdrawal. Allegedly, because of the their ties to the government, they have access to all identification databases for Iraqi workers in the International Zone in Baghdad, allowing them to obtain personal information such as addresses, pictures and phone numbers. | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 11/11/2011 | N/A | Aswat al Iraq reports that 4000 Iraqis working with the United States Army through subcontractors KBR and GLS were released from their jobs on Friday November 11th. The article also noted that the companies did not work to help those seeking to get to the U.S. because of threats, and also released them without a termination bonus. | Nasiriyah | Dhi Qar |
| 11/11/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Press release from Muqtada al-Sadr, in response to a question regarding whether he will work toward the Islamization of society. He vows he will, and also adds that he will not differentiate from Sunni, Shia, Christian, etc, and then made these further qualifying remarks: "I call on everyone to transcend their differences and build a new Iraq, free from the "destructor" (Saddam) and his men, from terrorism and its agents, militias, troops and of the occupation and its clients." | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 11/03/2011 | Grand Ayatollah and Marja Mahmoud Hassani Sorkhi | On October 28th, Grand Ayatollah Mahmoud Hassani Sorkhi released a statement in conjunction with a celebration for Mohammed Sadiq al Sadr, (murdered by Saddam in 1999, and Moqtada's Father) which following the Islamic calender, would be the 13th anniversary of his death. Sorkhi praises Sadr, calls out the U.S. occupation and the corruption it has ushered in. He also tells followers to "Reject the occupation, the invaders and the collaborators, and those who prepared for their arrival and are satisfied with their work. A clear victory to reject the occupation and its presence." Link: Source | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 10/31/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | State Department representative informs Iraqi USAID contractor staff that Muqtada al-Sadr has announced a war on U.S.-affiliated Iraqis and has given them an ultimatum to leave with U.S. by the end of the year. Department of State representative suggests that Iraqi staff take extra security precautions from now on. | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 9/01/2011 | N/A | Iraqi on the List alleges that many assassinations are being carried out in Nasiriyah, and that U.S. affiliated Iraqis are among the main targets. | Nasiriyah | Dhi Qar |
| 9/01/2011 | N/A | Iraqi on the List relates a story that he heard about militias having a list of names of Iraqis who have worked for the United States, and that they have been trying to find and kill those Iraqis. Aswat al Iraq reports in October that a security source in Diwaniyah confirmed that there was a list of persons of influence that militants were seeking to assassinate. The article also added that nine people had been assassinated within the timeframe of one month | Diwaniyah | Al-Qadisiyyah |
| 09/01/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Threat against USAID contractor causes them to inform their Iraqi staff that they will move their compound to a more secure location. | Baghdad | Baghdad |
| 12/8/2011 | Iraqi Army | Iraqi newspaper al-aalam reports that 12 Iraqi U.S. Army interpreters were allegedly arrested by the Iraqi Army during a recent base transfer ceremony in the province of Diyala. The List Project has not been able to verify that this event took place. | N/A | Diyala |
| 6/30/2011 | Association of Muslim Scholars | Harith Al-Dhari | Harith Al-Dhari, leader of Iraq's Association of Muslim Scholars, and known as a spiritual leader among Iraq's Sunni Insurgency, released a statement to his followers on June 30th, the 91st anniversary of the 1920 Iraqi revolt against the British occupation. In it he praised the resistance to the U.S. and expressed the following: "Do not fall into the temptation of the invaders, the invaders and their agents who prefer money over law. They betrayed the interests of Iraq and its people." | N/A | N/A |
| 06/23/2011 | Jaysh Al-Mahdi | Muqtada Al-Sadr | Attack on U.S. convoy headed to Mustansiriyah University, killing one American and injuring another. As a result, one prominent security contractor forbids trips to any areas controlled by Sadrists | Baghdad | Baghdad |
I am [REDACTED] I have Employed with US army In Kirkuk Province. In My mission with US army many threaten I have faced thought out my working with them. One of them were in Rashad Value we have found our names (Interpreters) in a sheet of paper to be slaughter . But unfortunately some got killed other like me escaped and until present time I am living in fear .
please help me to get out of this hell…………
This letter addressed to Mr. CRAIG Johnson
I can no longer write or said more than what I wrote earlier I am and my family are facing an unknown fate most likely its death, heard that the list project requests from each translator has been threatened or killed to sends you his story, What will I do in this case I do not know that how to lie to make a false story, as many they will do, do not know if my candor will put me in new problem as it was my work with U.S. forces