Aug 29 2007
Former Army Arabic Translator Recounts Work Spying on Americans
Cyrano’s Journal Online and its semi-autonomous subsections (Thomas Paine’s Corner, The Greanville Journal, CJO Avenger, and VoxPop) would be delighted to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to subscribe, type “CJO subscription” in the subject line and send your email to
Interview with Adrienne Kinne,
member of Iraq Veterans Against the War,
conducted by Scott Harris
Editor’s note: This Q&A is a special interview with Adrienne Kinne, conducted after their workshop at the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta.
ADRIENNE KINNE: I was in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves from 1994-2004 as an Arab linguist in military intelligence. I served stateside in that capacity.
BETWEEN THE LINES: What triggered your interest in IVAW and actually to join them?
ADRIENNE KINNE: Actually, I was mobilized in the Reserves after 9/11 almost immediately. And, working as an Arabic linguist in military intelligence, I saw kind of behind the scenes that the intelligence really was not there. I mean that the sources of intelligence were from groups that had interests in getting Saddam Hussein out of Iraq and that they were funded by our country. And I personally couldn’t understand why we were giving any credence to any of the intelligence out there. And I didn’t support the invasion of Iraq, but I really didn’t know how to do anything about it. So I stayed in the military until the Stop Loss was over and I was able to get out, and still I didn’t know really what to do or how to make my voice heard or how to speak out against the war.