An Amazing Story

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to speak with an Iraqi Kurd who was with us at the counter-protest/pro-troops rally outside Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I asked him how he came to be in America, and the story he told me was so amazing I wanted to share it with you.

(You can read my entire post on the counter-protest/rally at The Redhunter. Before you click over there, I should tell you that there are a lot of photos, so you'll either need broadband or a lot of patience)

An Amazing Story

I first saw him among us at our counter to the anti-war protests in Washington DC this past Sept 24. We only spoke briefly then, so when I met him Friday night I decided to ask him about his story, about how he came to be here in America. He looked about college age, which turned out to be exactly right.

He told me that he was rescued by American forces in 1988 during Saddam's brutal "Anfal" campaign in northern Iraq against the Kurds. He was 4 years old, and his family lived on a farm just outside of one of the villages Saddam attacked with chemical weapons. I think he said he became separated from his family (I'm not clear on this point), and that some American forces (Special Ops, I'm sure) came upon him and a young girl, all alone in this horror. He said that the Americans realized they just couldn't leave such young children behind, so they put them on their helicopter and took them to their base in Turkey. Eventually they got him and the girl to the US, where for a while they lived on American bases. Eventually the paperwork got worked out, and they were adopted (separately, I think, although I didn't get details). Obviously our guys have been "checking things out" in Iraq long before the Gulf War. You gotta love that.

He is now going to school at (I believe) George Washington University. He said that a few months(?) ago he was reunited with the soldiers who saved him, they had some sort of get-together. He had made contact with relatives back in Iraq, and had plans to visit them next year. However, he stressed that "I'm an American now" so this was his new homeland.

Wow.