They're on speaking terms with danger - Iraqis who work as interpreters for U.S. troops lead secret lives in fear of militants who call them traitors.

Every 45 days, he slips away from his job and heads home for a two-week break. Once there, he remains inside. He does not visit friends, take walks, go on dates, or do any of the things that would be expected of a handsome 27-year-old. He sees only his parents and siblings, because they are the only people who know that during his long stretches away, Ghost works as an interpreter for the U.S. Army.

It is a job that pays triple what most Iraqi companies offer, but it comes with a heavy price. Interpreters share the risks when U.S. troops go out on patrol, but they don't carry weapons. They also know that insurgents would kill them or their relatives if they knew how they earned their money.

So they live like phantoms. They don't reveal their true names, using monikers such as Ghost, Scarface, Snake or just plain William. They do not allow their photos to be taken. They fear being exposed if they leave the confines of their bases.

They also fear being left behind after President Bush said he would adopt the advice of his top commander in Iraq, Gen. David. H. Petraeus, who said last month that security had improved enough for some American forces to leave.

"You know the situation. Every interpreter, if he stays in Iraq, will get killed," David, a former tour guide, said with a tone of resignation in his voice.

Lives on the line

At least 257 Iraqi interpreters have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to the office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). It cited figures from L-3 Titan Group, the U.S. company that provides the military with most of its interpreters.

Company officials did not respond to requests for comment, but at a February job fair in Baghdad, a Titan recruiter said about 7,000 Iraqis were working as military interpreters.

Kennedy co-sponsored a bill approved by Congress in May that for two years increases to 500 annually from 50 the number of special immigrant visas granted to Iraqi and Afghan interpreters working for the U.S. military or its contractors. A State Department official said Oct. 9 that all 500 visas for the 2007 fiscal year ending Sept. 30 had been allotted, but there was no breakdown of how many went to Iraqis and how many to Afghans.

Denmark, which in August pulled nearly all of its 460 soldiers out of Iraq, secretly flew about 200 interpreters and other contract workers and their families out of the country so they would not face harm.