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The Struggle to Establish Trust When People Are in This Survival Mode
In Baghdad at the height of sectarian cleansing, anybody working alongside of Americans was being targeted and killed by adversaries on many different sides. Our interpreters were really the face of those Iraqis. They were our cultural eyes, ears and mouthpieces. We realized quickly that if we didn't do something to try to protect them or get them out of harm's way, they probably weren't going to be around. It took me five years to write Baghdad Underground Railroad. But when I came in and I saw that flag on the wall, it was the inspiration for me to keep writing.