The Expendable
The Tribune's Matt LaPlante offers the story of Diyar Al-Bayati, an Iraqi who accompanied American troops as a translator in more than 200 combat actions.On one of those missions, Al-Bayati had his legs blown off by a roadside bomb. He learned the U.S. military considers him and other Iraqis supporting American soldiers to be as disposable as expended cartridge cases.
Al-Bayati, who fled Iraq after being branded a "collaborator," can't get the government to provide him with prosthetic legs or even a motorized wheelchair. He says U.S. officials have told him he gets no more than the basic assistance offered to any refugee:
They say that I can only get limited help. In Iraq, when they wanted my help, I didn't tell them that it was limited. I didn't tell them, 'No, I'm just an interpreter and my services are limited.'
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