thedrifter
07-03-07, 05:35 AM
July 2, 2007
One brave woman
Thomas Lifson
Questions have been raised in many quarters (including here) about the media's use stringers and translators in Iraq, Palestinian territories, and elsewhere, whose honesty amd loyalties may be suspect. But there have also been extraordinarily brave people working with some media.
One such woman named Nour worked for the late Steven Vincent, the captured and assassinated journalist. David Paulin of The Big Carnival tells the story, which has a somewhat happy ending.
Honoring Her Late Husband’s Pledge, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent Brings Steven Vincent’s Iraqi Translator, ‘Nour,’ to America
"I am safe. I am not afraid,” says Nour.
By David Paulin
The late Steven Vincent’s award-winning Iraq reporting owed much to his Iraqi translator – a remarkable young woman named Nour.
She was shot and left for dead on August 2, 2005, hours after she and Vincent were kidnapped off a Basra street. They were forced into a car by men wearing police uniforms. Vincent, a freelancer on his second trip to post-Saddam Iraq, was beaten and shot to death – the only American journalist to date who has been murdered in Iraq.
After his earlier trip to Iraq, Vincent published his engrossing book, “In The Red Zone.” One chapter was devoted to Nour. A fluent English speaker, she was employed by a large NGO. She also spent long days on reporting outings with Vincent – helping him produce some of the most perceptive reporting of the war. The hard glares the two sometimes attracted were described by Vincent in his characteristic moral clarity: It was what an interracial couple would encounter in the Jim Crow South.
Mainstream media outlets have relied heavily on Iraqis to help cover the war in Iraq, and they have died in large numbers. Hastily trained, these Iraqi news assistants, reporters, and photographers have shaped how we view the war. Many of these Iraqis are of course brave and principled people. But in more than a few cases, their allegiances and motivations have been called into question.
No such questions were raised about Nour.
She believed in democracy, Vincent wrote, and “the promise of America." And in this sense, she was like many Iraqis. The next-to-the-last chapter of “In The Red Zone” was titled “Nour.”
“Short of destroying my marriage, I thought, I would do anything to help this woman,” Vincent added. It was one of several observations and anecdotes contained in the final pages of “In The Red Zone" that eerily foreshadowed the fate awaiting the pair.
Nour eventually recovered from her wounds. But her association with Vincent had put her life in jeopardy. What became of her? I’d often wondered that, just as I’d wondered about the articles and books Vincent might have written had he lived.
With Nour's help, Vincent brought a moral clarity and depth to his reporting that has been absent from budget-conscious and morally neutral media outlets such as the Associated Press. Many American reporters in Iraq do their reporting from the "Green Zone” – not the "Red Zone," where Vincent and Nour worked.
In Iraq, the mainstream media has treated its Iraqi “local hires” as disposable fodder. That was not the case with Steven Vincent in respect to Nour. Recently, I received fresh news of Nour in an e-mail that Vincent’s widow, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, sent to me and others.
Here is her correspondence:
Just wanted to let you all know that Steven's translator Nour has finally, after 18 months of effort on my part, arrived in New York to begin a new life. She came on Tuesday, June 26 - I did not want to say anything prior to this for fear of jinxing things, but she let me know about a week ahead of time that she was coming.
She will be living with me for the foreseeable future, and I will help her get set up here; tomorrow we go for her Social Security number, Medicare, and a work visa.
She is incredibly happy to be here - she keeps repeating, "I am safe. I am not afraid" in tones of astonishment, as if it has been so long since she has not had to be (afraid), that she no longer remembers what it's like - and this morning she told me that, for the first time in years, she is sleeping well.
Just a few shout-outs, in order of their appearance on the stage:
Dan Murphy, senior Baghdad correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, the first person to try and help me get her here, way back in 2005.
Michael Rubin, correspondent for American Enterprise Institute, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, who also tried to use his connections to help me bring her over.
Brian Lehrer, talk show host at WNYC, who in December 2006 took my call about the Iraq refugee crisis and my attempts to get Nour here and thus put in motion the series of events that finally led to my being able to bring her to New York.
Senator Edward Kennedy and his assistants Janice Kaguyutan and Todd Kushner - testifying in front of the Senator's Judiciary Committee, led directly to my meeting people who were actually willing and able help me; I thank the Senator for his letters to Commissioner Sauerbrey demanding Nour be granted entry to the US, and also Janice and Todd, whose patience and assistance were invaluable in my reaching this goal.
Wendy Young and Michel Gabaudan at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who worked with me to smooth Nour's acceptance into the refugee program, and who got her documentation while she was still in Jordan.
Elissa Mittman, Abigail Price and Lang Ngan of the International Rescue Committee, who knew just who to call and write for information and answers, and just how to reassure me that all would, indeed, be well. Thanks for the bed, she conks out in it like a log!
Chris Cole, who made me the fabulous "Got Nour" T-shirt that I wore when I went to JFK to get her, and which should be appearing on national television some time next week!
And finally last, but certainly not least, my dear friends and colleagues who supported, encouraged, chivvied, bolstered and rallied me this last year-and-a-half, through all the times when I reached yet another dead end and had to try and figure out where to go next.
THANK YOU ALL - FROM BOTH OF US!
Ellie
One brave woman
Thomas Lifson
Questions have been raised in many quarters (including here) about the media's use stringers and translators in Iraq, Palestinian territories, and elsewhere, whose honesty amd loyalties may be suspect. But there have also been extraordinarily brave people working with some media.
One such woman named Nour worked for the late Steven Vincent, the captured and assassinated journalist. David Paulin of The Big Carnival tells the story, which has a somewhat happy ending.
Honoring Her Late Husband’s Pledge, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent Brings Steven Vincent’s Iraqi Translator, ‘Nour,’ to America
"I am safe. I am not afraid,” says Nour.
By David Paulin
The late Steven Vincent’s award-winning Iraq reporting owed much to his Iraqi translator – a remarkable young woman named Nour.
She was shot and left for dead on August 2, 2005, hours after she and Vincent were kidnapped off a Basra street. They were forced into a car by men wearing police uniforms. Vincent, a freelancer on his second trip to post-Saddam Iraq, was beaten and shot to death – the only American journalist to date who has been murdered in Iraq.
After his earlier trip to Iraq, Vincent published his engrossing book, “In The Red Zone.” One chapter was devoted to Nour. A fluent English speaker, she was employed by a large NGO. She also spent long days on reporting outings with Vincent – helping him produce some of the most perceptive reporting of the war. The hard glares the two sometimes attracted were described by Vincent in his characteristic moral clarity: It was what an interracial couple would encounter in the Jim Crow South.
Mainstream media outlets have relied heavily on Iraqis to help cover the war in Iraq, and they have died in large numbers. Hastily trained, these Iraqi news assistants, reporters, and photographers have shaped how we view the war. Many of these Iraqis are of course brave and principled people. But in more than a few cases, their allegiances and motivations have been called into question.
No such questions were raised about Nour.
She believed in democracy, Vincent wrote, and “the promise of America." And in this sense, she was like many Iraqis. The next-to-the-last chapter of “In The Red Zone” was titled “Nour.”
“Short of destroying my marriage, I thought, I would do anything to help this woman,” Vincent added. It was one of several observations and anecdotes contained in the final pages of “In The Red Zone" that eerily foreshadowed the fate awaiting the pair.
Nour eventually recovered from her wounds. But her association with Vincent had put her life in jeopardy. What became of her? I’d often wondered that, just as I’d wondered about the articles and books Vincent might have written had he lived.
With Nour's help, Vincent brought a moral clarity and depth to his reporting that has been absent from budget-conscious and morally neutral media outlets such as the Associated Press. Many American reporters in Iraq do their reporting from the "Green Zone” – not the "Red Zone," where Vincent and Nour worked.
In Iraq, the mainstream media has treated its Iraqi “local hires” as disposable fodder. That was not the case with Steven Vincent in respect to Nour. Recently, I received fresh news of Nour in an e-mail that Vincent’s widow, Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, sent to me and others.
Here is her correspondence:
Just wanted to let you all know that Steven's translator Nour has finally, after 18 months of effort on my part, arrived in New York to begin a new life. She came on Tuesday, June 26 - I did not want to say anything prior to this for fear of jinxing things, but she let me know about a week ahead of time that she was coming.
She will be living with me for the foreseeable future, and I will help her get set up here; tomorrow we go for her Social Security number, Medicare, and a work visa.
She is incredibly happy to be here - she keeps repeating, "I am safe. I am not afraid" in tones of astonishment, as if it has been so long since she has not had to be (afraid), that she no longer remembers what it's like - and this morning she told me that, for the first time in years, she is sleeping well.
Just a few shout-outs, in order of their appearance on the stage:
Dan Murphy, senior Baghdad correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, the first person to try and help me get her here, way back in 2005.
Michael Rubin, correspondent for American Enterprise Institute, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, who also tried to use his connections to help me bring her over.
Brian Lehrer, talk show host at WNYC, who in December 2006 took my call about the Iraq refugee crisis and my attempts to get Nour here and thus put in motion the series of events that finally led to my being able to bring her to New York.
Senator Edward Kennedy and his assistants Janice Kaguyutan and Todd Kushner - testifying in front of the Senator's Judiciary Committee, led directly to my meeting people who were actually willing and able help me; I thank the Senator for his letters to Commissioner Sauerbrey demanding Nour be granted entry to the US, and also Janice and Todd, whose patience and assistance were invaluable in my reaching this goal.
Wendy Young and Michel Gabaudan at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who worked with me to smooth Nour's acceptance into the refugee program, and who got her documentation while she was still in Jordan.
Elissa Mittman, Abigail Price and Lang Ngan of the International Rescue Committee, who knew just who to call and write for information and answers, and just how to reassure me that all would, indeed, be well. Thanks for the bed, she conks out in it like a log!
Chris Cole, who made me the fabulous "Got Nour" T-shirt that I wore when I went to JFK to get her, and which should be appearing on national television some time next week!
And finally last, but certainly not least, my dear friends and colleagues who supported, encouraged, chivvied, bolstered and rallied me this last year-and-a-half, through all the times when I reached yet another dead end and had to try and figure out where to go next.
THANK YOU ALL - FROM BOTH OF US!
Ellie