The author discusses translation in the context of contemporary wars. Translation is a medium for hearing as well as overhearing what others say. It is an instrument of surveillance that magnifies the alienness of alien speech, and in the context of Western imperialisms it promotes linguistic and social hierarchies. The foreign language of the colonizer comes to exercise considerable social power, surpassing any of the local languages, and those who can function in it are then elevated socially and materially. At the same time, translation can be a tool of empowerment. It can establish connections and contacts across linguistic and other divides, and can therefore enable the formation of new publics. In this sense it is not purely an instrument of imperial power but is a form of power in its own right. Returning specifically to the topic of current wars in Iraq and elsewhere, the author examines the tensions and indeterminacy inherent in the positions that translators and interpreters occupy in this context.