U.S. occupation became a blessing in disguise for some

The Globe and Mail (Canada) ^ | 3/12/04 | Geoffrey York

[saquin]

Umm Qasr, Iraq — Fadi Wasi may the luckiest man in Umm Qasr. A year ago, the 18-year-old was terrified and near starvation. Conscripted into Saddam Hussein's army, he deserted from his army unit in the early hours of the war and ran into hiding in an empty building in Umm Qasr with his brother. After eight days with almost no food or water, they surrendered to a Globe and Mail reporter, thinking that his jeep was a military vehicle. They were skinny and miserable and resigned to years in prison.

A few weeks after the war, he was released from a prisoner-of-war camp and went home to his father in the notorious Sunni Triangle near Baghdad, where hostility toward the foreign occupiers runs high. A family dispute, combined with his fear of retribution by Hussein loyalists, prompted him to return to Umm Qasr to beg for shelter again at the PoW camp.

Since then, he has experienced an extraordinary reversal of fortune. Taken under the wing of a generous American military officer who has gone to great lengths to help him, he is now waiting for a U.S. student visa and a new life in the land of his former enemies.

He lives with a group of well-fed Iraqi interpreters on the edge of the PoW camp, under the protection of U.S. soldiers. He wears an "Operation Enduring Freedom" baseball cap and leather jacket, and carries a cellphone, donated by the American officer.

He is healthy and happy, much heavier and stronger than he was a year ago. He spends his days studying English, surfing the Internet for websites on music and sports, watching DVDs of Hollywood movies, and going to the camp gym to work out.

"A year ago, I was really desperate," he says. "I was so scared, I was shivering. Now it seems like a dream coming true. I will go to the United States and become a responsible citizen."

He is philosophical about the bizarre twist of fate that plucked him from misery and put him on the verge of happiness in America. "Sometimes luck comes to a person once in his life," he said. "And this is what is happening to me now."

He is not alone in his turn of fortune. Not far from his new home, a homeless family who suffered intense persecution and imprisonment in the Hussein era live free from fear in the former Baath Party's headquarters. The family is still poor, but it enjoys four carpeted rooms and a big television and a satellite dish, courtesy of donations from the British troops occupying the town.

Sameera Mohammed's husband was hanged by the old regime for refusing to join the Baath Party. Two of her sons were jailed for refusing to serve in the army. At the end of the war last year, they moved into the looted wreckage of the Baath Party building, still filled with heaps of bomb rubble and piles of old propaganda sheets.

A year later, their home is beginning to look cozy. British troops gathered donations from their military colleagues and gave the family the satellite television, along with mattresses to sleep on. The family put carpets on the concrete floors, painted the walls, and nailed plastic sheets over the broken windows. They built a television stand from old cans and scraps of wood.

"The situation is much better now," Ms. Mohammed said. "We have peace of mind. In the past, I was always afraid that the regime would come and take my sons away. Now we feel safe."

Ms. Mohammed's eldest son, Saad Aziz, is earning a small income as a food trader. It is easier to make money in the market these days, he says. "Everyone is buying everything now."

[MarkeyD]

I will go to the United States and become a responsible citizen.

Then he definitely won't be a Democrat.

[fuzzy122]

Whooo-raaah!!!

MEGA-

Stay Strong
Fuzzy

[an amused spectator]

"A year ago, I was really desperate," he says. "I was so scared, I was shivering. Now it seems like a dream coming true. I will go to the United States and become a responsible citizen."

What's the difference between Fadi Wasi and John F'kn Kerry?

An American soldier is safe if Fadi Wasi is in back of him.