"He says American forces use us like a tissue. I feel the same thing."

On my walk home tonight, I heard the second half of a This American Life episode about Sarah, an Iraqi woman who became a translator for the U.S. military. I was really struck by this part of the story, when Sarah talks about the danger of her job and the weight of guilt and responsibility she felt.

[A source] told Sarah the militias had a nickname for Sarah: The Lion.

One day the woman's husband called Sarah and said, "They came and took her. Militia leaders took her."

[Sarah]: "I know the militias. They are savage and they torture everyone. They don't care about a woman, or a kid, or anything. And I felt guilt. I thought maybe I am the reason for what she will suffer from. I just wanted to take her back to her kids and so I was crazy, talking, crying, begging the [U.S.] captain to find any way to go and try to find her."

...

We moved from house to house, all the houses were empty. We spent maybe two days searching for her. Then her husband called me and said, "Hey Sarah, they called us and they said 'We killed her.'" 

[Sarah]: "Every time I remember her, I really said 'She was the lion, not me. I'm not the lion. She was the lion.'"

The Los Angeles Times also did a profile of Sarah in a Feb. 2010 issue. After working for the U.S. military for nearly a year, she was anonymously accused of working with Iraqi militias (who killed her husband) and other crimes. She was put in a U.S. prison for 2 months before a judge threw the case out, but was transferred to an Iraqi prison for a month because her lawyer did not sign the release forms.

Still angry, she wrote an e-mail to Berriman and asked the captain why he had abandoned her, why he did nothing when her money was stolen. Only months before, he had recommended her for immigration to America; now she had lost her job and her chance to go to the U.S.

"This is for you too to ask yourselves: Did anyone of you get hurt when I was working with you?" she addressed the captain. "I am sure you know the answer."

Her e-mail bounced back.

Berriman said later in an interview that he wished he had done more for her, but his battalion was preoccupied with rotating out of Iraq when Sarah was being investigated.

If he could tell her anything, Berriman said, "I would want her to know she helped us out very much and she is a very good person and I hope she continues to stay safe and finds security for her and her boys."

Read more: http://articles.latimes.com/print/2010/feb/04/world/la-fg-iraq-widow4-2010feb04

I have tried to find more information about Sarah, but details are scant. I found this Facebook discussion, which has a few more details about her attempt to immigrate to the United States.