3 Oct 2019

Same team, different uniform: The story of an Iraqi translator who became an American Airman

In 2003, Airman 1st Class Saeed Shnawa was not Airman 1st Class Saeed Shnawa. He was a 21-year-old Iraqi student of technology at a university in Baghdad.That’s when American and coalition forces arrived to overthrow the Iraqi government, turning Baghdad a war zone. Like many young men and women in Baghdad, Shnawa fled the city, bound for western