Islamic State Wants to Kill This Man for Once Working With the Americans

Saado Kheder says he’ll die if he goes back to Iraq

When Islamic State militants attacked northern Iraq in late July and early August, tens of thousands of people from the Yezidi religious group ran for their lives. Some of the refugees were former interpreters for the U.S. military.

At a privately-funded refugee camp in Batman, Turkey, I visited Saado Kheder, a 43-year-old Yezidi refugee and former interpreter. He says Islamic State will kill him if he goes back to Iraq. “There’s no future for us,” he told me.

Kheder introduced me to his family and showed me where he now lives—the showers of a former school dormitory. “Nobody helps us,” he said. “Everybody hates us.”

Convert or Die

Qasim Shasho and His Band of Yezidi Fighters Refused to Abandon Their Holy Shrine

On the Lonely Iraq-Syria Border, Snipers Battle for a Strategic Road