A former U.S. Army translator and interpreter, Salah Ahmed, left his home in Iraq to relocate his family to a safer environment this June.  

“When we go outside or sleep inside, I’m not thinking about the danger outside,” Ahmed, also a retired cabinet officer from the Iraqi Army, said. “I’m sleeping safe and feel relaxed.”

Ahmed said he would not leave his family alone for even one night in Baghdad.

With three bachelor degrees, one in military science from military college, and the other two in German and English from the University of Baghdad, he worked for the U.S. Army in Baghdad for one year, and then worked for five years with the United States Agency for International Development.

As a partial reward for working for the U.S. Government, Ahmed, his wife Astrabraq and their three daughters were able to relocate to

Texas under a Special Immigrant Visa. He arrived in the U.S. with his family on June 16, 2009.

He said he received threats for working with the U.S. and was called a spy by opposing religious or political groups, which was part of the reason he chose to move.

When he arrived in the U.S., the first job he got was at Blockbuster.  He said he arrived in bad economic times and it was not easy to find work that fit his qualifications. Now he works for Dallas ISD, where he translates Farsi and Arabic into English.

“Change… is not so easy, with all the challenges of a different country,” Ahmed said. “I was worried about my family first. “

Although the threats played a partial role in his move, Ahmed said his children are the main reason he moved to the U.S. He said he wanted to live in “a country of law because the law protect[s] everyone… not in my country. Anyone can do anything to me by party power, tribe [or] family power.”