Military Translators at War
Why interpreters serving with US troops in Iraq are revolting.
The more than 2,000 Arab Americans currently working for the US military as contract linguists in Iraq are marked for death. Insurgents view them as traitors and, since 2003, at least 300 have been killed on the job. On the streets of Iraq, many don masks to shield their faces from hostile eyes. Their work is difficult and exhausting, but pays well—more than $200,000 a year for the most skilled positions. Or at least it did. Now some of these translators, who have seen their pay abruptly slashed by as much as 40 percent, are at war with Global Linguist Solutions (GLS), the government contractor that manages a $4.6 billion contract to provide interpreters for the US Army on behalf of an array of smaller subcontractors. The outcome of this fight could affect the US mission in Iraq.
-
Thrown to the Assassins: What Became of the Iraqis Who Greeted Us as Liberators
They cheered the U.S. invasion; they offered to help, signed on as translators, risked everything they had to work for the United States. But when they had to run for their lives, America slammed the door.
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Refugee Crisis: The Left Behind
Facing Iraq's refugee crisis—and the exodus to come.
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Operation American Dream
What happened to a Baghdad refugee duo stranded in Casablanca-like limbo?
Lawyers representing more than 100 current and former contract linguists in Iraq are preparing to file a class action suit against Falls Church, Virginia-based GLS, which is majority owned by DynCorp International. The linguists allege that the company illegally changed the terms of their employment agreements, using threats and intimidation to coerce them into signing modified contracts for far less money. GLS denies any wrongdoing, holding that the pay cuts were not only legal, but also a financial necessity given the firm's narrowing profit margins. But Robert Burlison, the linguists' lead attorney and organizer of the class action, says that greed lies at the root of the case. The company, he says, has undertaken "a concerted effort to make more money and to do it on the backs of the linguists."
The dispute erupted on January 2 when GLS president and CEO James "Spider" Marks, a retired US Army general (and one of the former military officers outed by the New York Times in April 2008 for pushing Pentagon propaganda on cable television), sent an email to the linguists telling them they would be required to sign salary adjustment agreements; should they fail to comply, they would be sent home. For most of the Iraq War, in addition to their base salaries, linguists have been earning hazard compensation that amounts to 70 percent above their base pay. The rates are set not by GLS, but by the US government, based on the official assessment of risk to US personnel in the field. (GLS also employs a coterie of local Iraqi linguists, who do not qualify for danger pay and earn base salaries of only $1,200 to $1,400 a month.)
Underlying the impending class action is the question of whether GLS broke the law by unilaterally modifying the terms of its linguists' employment agreements midcontract, before they came up for renegotiation. According to GLS spokesman Doug Ebner, the firm was merely reacting to changes in its own contract with the US Army, which had demanded more linguists for the same price, thereby lowering the firm's margins. He declined to provide a copy of the contract or to discuss it in any detail, but according to Stars and Stripes, changes requested by the Army amounted to a "nine-figure reduction" to the GLS budget. The only way to make up the difference was to reduce salaries, says Ebner. "We supply people," he explained. "We don't have any overheard except operating costs and the costs of support and salaries. We don't have other things to cut." Perhaps not, but according to the linguists, GLS violated their employment agreements when it looked to make up the difference by reducing salaries. The linguists' individual contracts with GLS "don't say, 'If the government pays us less, we can modify it consistent with that,'" says Burlison.
By January 17, a group of disgruntled translators had launched a website detailing their concerns about GLS's actions and imploring their colleagues not to sign salary modifications. According to Mahmoud Elboraii, an Egyptian American interpreter who helped create the site, the goal was to convince at least 250 translators to refuse signing, which would have put GLS below 90 percent strength and caused it to default on its contract with the US Army. "Our goal was to stop the salary cut, to protest it, because there's no place in America or in Iraq or in the rest of the world where, with your experience and years of working, they will pay you as a new recruit," says Elboraii, who worked as a contract interpreter in Baghdad for more than five years.
Aggravating the situation, according to numerous written complaints and former GLS linguists interviewed for this story, was the firm's alleged attempt to strong-arm personnel into modifying their contracts. Knowing that a revolt was brewing among its contractors, GLS "began sending mobile teams to get signatures for the modification of the contract, [and] that's when they started intimidating and harassing linguists," says Elboraii. The stories collected on the protest website are strikingly similar: allegations of GLS managers demanding signatures on the spot, often not allowing linguists to review the modifications in advance, and threatening them with termination should they refuse. In one case, when a team of linguists requested more time to consider their options before signing, a GLS manager allegedly said, "Your names will go on a shit list tonight if you do not sign…[and] once you're on the list, it will be extremely difficult to pull you off."
GLS managers also allegedly shamed interpreters for abandoning US troops, warned that there were plenty of other qualified candidates to replace them should they refuse to sign, and said those who didn't would likely wind up on the unemployment line, competing with thousands of others thrown out of work by the recession. In a few cases, things seem to have turned even uglier. "They actually started humiliating linguists and calling them names," says Elboraii. One linguist reported a conversation he had with a GLS manager in the chow hall of his base, where the manager allegedly shrugged off the linguists' complaints, saying, "You know the Arabs…when they hear they're going to be fired, they will all spread like cockroaches." (Ebner said that any cases of alleged misconduct by GLS managers "would be fully investigated," yet to date there is no evidence to suggest that anyone from GLS has been.)
In the end, GLS's heavy-handed approach appears to have won out. Despite their complaints, most interpreters agreed to sign contract modifications rather than give up their jobs. The relative few who didn't now look to the courts for restitution. As their class action suit takes shape, Elboraii and his fellow linguists look back on their time in Iraq with new perspective. "Were we fighting to convince a greedy corporation that if it was not for us, there would not be any contract to be awarded?" he writes in a post on the protest website. "Were we fighting to convince the whole world that we are not cockroaches as GLS described us? Is it worth it to run around like a fugitive after six years of serving with the US Army in Iraq?" The questions are rhetorical, but Elboraii has no illusions about where an individual contractor ranks in relation to the big money GLS and other private contractors have made working for the US government in Iraq. "We are nothing but numbers," he says. "GLS doesn't care who they have working in Iraq. The bottom line is they wanted to make more money."
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Private Contractors Benefit United States
Dear Mr. Falconer,
I value your concerns towards the United States military; however, I feel that your article and your argument are ignorant towards the beneficial aspects of private contractors in Iraq. I believe you have an underlying assumption in your article that private contractors have only a negative impact on America and the U.S armed forces in war. This assumption is untrue based on the following information:
First off, "the Administration is looking for places to get more troops" (article 1). The use of these private contractors allows military personnel to expand to more concerned regions. The jobs that are being sold to the private contractors could be done by military services, however, by outsourcing them, it allows military to increase area relief and coverage.
Not only are private contractors benefiting America’s armed troops overseas, but also they are benefiting Americans throughout the United States. There are a limited number of military personnel and troops available at any given time. Therefore, these private contractors are preventing a war-time draft in the United States. "Only outsourcing and privatizing war-making to mercenaries and contractors . . . has enabled the military to continue the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this long, on this scale, without a draft” (Article 2). I'm sure many American's would argue that this situation has an enormous positive impact on America as a whole.
Although I do value your article and criticism towards private contractors, I feel that your assumption (private contractors have only a negative impact on the Iraq War) makes your argument weak. Thank you for your consideration on a different outlook towards private contractors in the Iraq War.
Research Sources Included In This Blog:
Article 1: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/scahill
Article 2: http://hasbrouck.org/draft/
SPaton
Well first off your assumption was completely off base and inaccurate. The point of the article was to talk about the corporate corruption that is going on and how it is affecting the translators.
However even though your post is way off I'll outline all your assumptions, so maybe next time you'll pay attention to what you are reading next time before you post something like this.
Your first assumption is that the increase of soldiers that "the Administration" has implemented is responsible for the pay cuts that the translators are experiencing. Just to make sure you are properly informed it's actually the GLS company that imposed the paycuts not the government.The article actually states the GLS corporate head saying that they had nowhere else to cut the costs so the translators pay was the only option.
Your second assumption was that the author of the article was saying that contractors aren't beneficial to the soldiers, the main point was the corruption in the companies. Another assumption is that there are no negative aspects of the government employing contractors.
You may not be a master in finding the main idea of a story which is a rather elementary concept but you are a master of fallacious argument.
Most of the linguists who
Most of the linguists who signed the new contracts were fooled by “Under Duress” which at the end helped GLS to keep its contract. Linguists were supposed to show more strength but most of them liked the idea of signing under duress, they continued to work and joined other linguists in the class action lawsuit. Unfortunately, those linguists who refused to sign and got fired are currently, whether they like it or not, fighting for the rest of the linguists.
linguists
newsmom
i went to th GLS web site and posted a comment indicatng my frustration that once again, a high-ranking, double-dipping miilitary mogul is capitalizing on the plight of those his company ostensibly serves. and we wonder why people in countries we occupy don't trust us. each time i wonder how much lower we can go, the doggone military higherups come along and reach a new subhuman point, leavng our poor on-the-ground troops to reap the whirlwind. nice going, gen. marks!
Something is not right here,
Something is not right here, I’m not getting it, why the Government would pay a private contractor $4.65B over 5 years to hire linguists in Iraq while the US Government, Army of DOS, is capable of hiring those linguists directly and save more than $2.3B over the five years, nearly $500M per year?
Privatizing the military is part of the Conservative agenda
You ask why the taxpayers have to pay billions more than it should have cost? Well, the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld Conservative, Unregulated, Free Market, Vulture Capitalism is the answer. The Conservatives want everything to be privatized and there won't be any role for government except to furnish the bodies (literally),take the people's money and funnel it into the bottomless, noncompetetive pockets of the war profiteers and robber barons of the military-industrial complex (all partners and friends of the ruling class who go back and forth from business to government, like Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld, for just 3). Eisenhower warned about this 50 years ago and nobody listened. Well, now it is a fact.
Read "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" by Rajuv Chandrasekaran, asst. managing editor of the Washington Post (a so-called "liberal" paper that supports US aggression in all its guises), and "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, one of the most fascinating books I've ever read and it is well documented, referenced & resources. It reads like a good thriller. You'll never look at things the same again.These books, and others, will show you just how this invasion and occupation of Iraq was done. It will make your blood boil with rage at the arrogance of this Bush criminal bunch. To these Conservatives the military only furnishes the bodies, everything else is now done by for-profit (and then some!) War-Profiteer, Robber Baron Corps. like Haliburton, The Carlyle Group, Bechtel, Blackwater, Lockheed, Boeing ad nauseum. Everyone should read these books. You'll understand more how the US has been sold, literally, and you'll be paying for it for a long time.
Confused Citizen, you need
Confused Citizen, you need not be confused any more. This whole adventure was conceived to enrich certain huge corporations (Blackwater, Caci. KBG etc.) It is called war profiteering. There was not one single solid reason to invade Iraq other than to make money and lots of it. That mission has been accomplished. Meanwhile the whole Middle East has been destabilized. But who cares? Cheney, Rummy and the rest of the criminals were successful in achieving their goal. The rest of humanity can go straight to hell as far as they are concerned.
To, S Paton, Sir,
To, S Paton, Sir,
Of course private contractors have benefitted SOME Americans but, overall, they have not been any great benefit to Americans as a whole. And, Sir, to suggest that any situation, relating to the wars the US operates on TWO fronts, "has an enormous positive impact on America as a whole" clearly indicates a comprehensive lack of understanding of the position the USA now finds itself.
The wealth of a once great nation has been stripped to fill the coffers of war and what remains does so in the hands of a 'privliged few'. Americans are not only despised by a growing majority of the global population, they are hated and held in utter contempt.
In times of great need it is wonderful indeed to be able to ask for help from friends that have stuck with you in those difficult times; when you have no friends, the ground between the rock and the hard place is distinctly uncomfortable.
The USA is now bankrupt, financially and morally. You sir, may be proud to call yourself an American but there are an increasing number who are not !!
America
EVERY country has problems...NO country is perfect. It is intrinsically human to err. If you are not proud to be an American...get out now. What is holding you back? I never understand how citizens can hate their own country while making no effort to fix problems or immigrate to another country. You are the cancer we should remove. America will fix itself...no thanks to people like yourself.
The Real Reason is Simple...
The words are found in the article; " Global Linguist Solutions (GLS), the government contractor that manages a $4.6 billion contract to provide interpreters for the US Army on behalf of an array of smaller subcontractors." The more subcontractors there are, the higher the cost to the government, generally. Most government contracts require a subcontracting plan, but when you rely too heavily on them, you lose oversight, and therefore efficiency. The mission of these linguists is far too important to be entrusted to a company that cannot properly oversee the execution of its mandate.
When the GLS spokesman says, " "We supply people... We don't have any overheard except operating costs and the costs of support and salaries. We don't have other things to cut." he is really referring to the fact that there is no overhead put into leadership, unless they bill the entire leadership's salaries to the government, which is illegal.
If GLS screwed their linguists, they screwed their subcontractors as well. Those companies rely on that revenue and if the prime contractor (GLS) is terminated for cause, the work doesn't go to the subcontractors, it goes to another contract vehicle that can support it, leaving those subcontractors in the cold.
The GLS spokesman didn't do his math before he spoke on behalf of the company, maybe the GLS board of directors will do it for him.
Outrageous!
First of all I have to point out that interpreters' starting pay is around $450-500 a day and increases over time to around $700-750 a day. Most soldiers deployed to Iraq make about $2000-3500 a month. There are very, very few interpreters that I feel sorry for. Don't get me wrong, there are some very good and willing interpreters out there. However, I have three tours in Iraq, and have utilized and witnessed the lifestyles of over 15 interpreters. There are very few interpreters that are actually in harms way and earning hazardous duty pay. The same goes for most soldiers, but their pay and hazardous duty "bonus" is comparably negligible. Some interpreters actually refuse to leave the base. A lot of interpreters I have used are unwilling to adapt to the lifestyle required to operate in Iraq whether in harms way or not. Some interpreters actually get mad when asked to work. Some will yell at you for waking them up early in the morning, not realizing the spontaneous nature of the work, and that someone just woke you up as well. Some refuse to work if they cannot eat meals on a regular schedule, not realizing that you have missed several meals. Some interpreters cannot even read, write, and in some instances speak Arabic. I realize that in every group there are "bad apples," but it is almost impossible to fire or "trade" poor interpreters. Especially in today's economic atmosphere, I think it is absolutely stunning that any contractor, interpreter or otherwise, to complain about making even half of the pay stated above. Consider how much soldiers make and compare the amount of work being done. I think a valid solution is for the government to hire interpreters directly, so work standards can be implemented and pay controlled. Also, more local interpreters should be utilized.
To Outrageous: First of all
To Outrageous: First of all I agree with you about the attitude of some linguists in Iraq, I worked there as a linguist for years and completely understand what you were talking about. I’ve seen linguists who did not read or write any English but their own names. I’ve seen CAT III linguists who did not read, write or even spoke one Arabic word. Sometime I wonder about the English-Arabic Test GLS gives its linguists before deploying to Iraq. What kind of a language-evaluation GEN Spider was talking about when he said “I have a pipeline of highly qualified linguists ready to deploy”? On the other hand, I’ve seen highly qualified well educated linguists who were always willing and ready to work with the Army under any condition. I’ve seen linguists going above and beyond to help both the US Army and the Iraqi Soldiers. I’ve seen linguists who used their own down-time to run computer courses to teach the Iraqi Soldiers how to use computers. I’ve seen linguists who went outside the wire with their units each time they went out and shared the same risk. Unfortunately, most of the linguists who signed GLS’ new contract and kept their jobs are the same kind of linguists you described in your comment. Finally, if you think most of the linguists are over-paid, how about those retired generals (GLS Board of Directors) who are sitting on their fancy chairs inside their fancy offices making thousands of dollars each month for no reason other than using their personal relationship with on-duty Officers to secure GLS’ contract?
Clarification
All solid points you make. There are many linguists who I believe deserve the original amount of pay as you pointed out. About the over-inflation of pay; I am frustrated with the amount of money contractors in general make, especially the fat cats who "manage" the companies. The problem of regulation of quality work is a wide spread problem not specific to linguists. There has to be an overhaul of the entire system. This may be the first step.
To SPaton:
Thanks for your comments, but I'm afraid you've misunderstood the point. Looking over the piece, I don't see where I've suggested that "private contractors have only a negative impact on the Iraq War," nor do I see anything indicating that "private contractors have only a negative impact on America." An argument could be made for or against these sentiments, but I haven't attempted one.
This piece concerns itself primarily with the mistreatment of contractors by their employer--GLS (and, by extension, DynCorp) in this case. I understand that contractors, for better or worse, have become part of the US force structure in recent years. It's a phenomenon that many people find distasteful, but it is a reality. There have been too many stories coming out of Iraq about contractors being used and abused by their own companies: migrant South Asian workers being virtually imprisoned in Iraq after their passports were confiscated; Central American ex-soldiers promised competitive salaries for dangerous work, only to have their contracts torn up and... shall we say... "renegotiated" literally while in the air en route to Baghdad (see here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/blackwaters-world-warcraft); female contractors allegedly sexually assaulted by their peers and then punished for complaining about it; and (in this story) contract linguists who appear to have been pressured into signing contract adjustments that may not have been legal (let the courts decide). The stories go on and on. The point being, this piece does not attack contractors for being contractors; it simply notes another case in which improprieties (or worse) have surfaced in the murky world of private industry's involvement in Iraq.
What is needed is proper regulation. This responsibility falls squarely on the US government, but it is one that American officials have largely abrogated. We might hope (as I do) that private companies will be scrupulous, but let's face it... too much money is at stake for these firms to regulate themselves. The government must step in.
To "Frustrated Soldier," I understand your anger that linguists are paid exorbitant wages for their work, while US troops risk more for much less. But this is the result of Pentagon choices about how best to fight wars and lies at the root of the issue of whether contractors have a place in the field. Again, this piece is not about whether the linguists' wages are justified; it's about whether GLS broke its agreement with them in cutting their salaries and whether the company did so through a campaign of intimidation.
to Outrageous!
let's cut a shit it’s all about money we all know that if you are interpreter you want make more if you are soldier you get f*** joules because trip making more if you are GLS you are suck and your company is suck their is nothing about Iraq or US it's fucken money in fact interpreter are the best people because they are bridge between to civilization’s don’t try to be loyal person now money , money , money so f******* admitted dump ass
The Translators
Truly shocking.
Benedict Arnold was allowed to retire to England in comfort, where he became a businessman.
Surely those who betray their county in our time by serving a foreign army of occupation should be treated with no less consideration.
The CEO of parent-company
The CEO of parent-company DynCorp, retired Army general Barry McCaffrey, was caught peddling equipment for use in Iraq to Congress and in the media as a patriotic, unbiased, adviser, only for it to be revealed later that the equipment he was promoting was actually being sold by his company. Some companies, and individuals, will do anything for money, I guess, including increasing their profit margins by cutting the pay of those on the front lines, such as these linguists.
I'm going to buy
I'm going to buy dissertation now on this topic. Can anyone suggest me helpful resources?
Translators are screwed by GLS
GLS is a for profit company, make no mistake about it. I signed up for a 2 weeks processing with GLS on June 10. I was sent all details which included a $145/day per diem. Travel was on June 12. On June 11 GLS decided not the pay the per diem. What choices did I have with 14 hours before my departure? None.
To the disgusted soldier who feels linguists make too much: Don't be disgusted. If a linguist is injured or looses his life, well guess what happens.? Nothing! He lost.
Translate
This is something i cant understand. In europe you have hand held computers wich can translate 5 languages were is Gates???Most people have it wich costs about 25 bucks against 200,000 perjaar?were is microsoft...
Translate
This is something i cant understand. In europe you have hand held computers wich can translate 5 languages were is Gates???Most people have it wich costs about 25 bucks against 200,000 perjaar?were is microsoft...
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imistic.
As a former Fed economist, I
As a former Fed economist, I can tell you that kidding isn't in their DNA on these matters. The graph probably overstates the damage, but if the unemployment rate continues to be a lagging economic indicator - and I'm not willing to bet a lot on that - then the current declines in sales, industrial production and GDP would mean that the unemployment rate would be increasing substantially for the rest of this year and into early next year at a minimum. "Rising more steeply" is the part where I think the case is - hopefully - overstated. Many businesses appear to have been much more aggressive in cutting jobs early in the downturn. That should mean that job losses later will be somewhat less than typical. Still, I'm betting on the unemployment rate topping out just over 10 percent so I guess that makes me relatively opttiffany jewelry
tiffany and co
imistic.
my opinion
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