Inhumane act moved informant

TimesUnion ^ | 04/04/03 | JUAN O. TAMAYO

[bedolido]

Iraqi tipster told Marines about Pvt. Jessica Lynch after seeing her captors slap her

By JUAN O. TAMAYO, Knight-Ridder First published: Friday, April 4, 2003

MARINE COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Iraq -- The Iraqi man who tipped U.S. Marines to the location of American POW Jessica Lynch said Thursday that he did so after he saw her Iraqi captor slap her twice as she lay wounded in a hospital.

"A person, no matter his nationality, is a human being," the tipster, a 32-year-old lawyer whose wife was a nurse at the hospital, said in an interview at Marines' headquarters, where he, his wife and daughter are being treated as heroes and guests of honor.

After he saw Lynch slapped, the lawyer slipped into her room at the Saddam Hospital in Nasiriyah and told her, "Don't worry."

Then he walked six miles to the nearest U.S. Marines and told them where she was.

He later returned to the hospital, at the request of U.S. commanders, to map the facility and count how many Saddam Hussein loyalists were there.

A U.S. commando force whose name remains secret rescued Lynch early Wednesday local time. She was taken Thursday to Germany for treatment of injuries she suffered when she was captured.

The lawyer, whose first name is Mohammed and who asked that his last name not be published, smiled between every sentence as he recounted in broken but expressive English how he helped the Americans.

He learned English at Basra University.

Wearing Marine hand-me-downs after fleeing with only the clothes on their backs, Mohammed, his wife, Iman, 32, a nurse at Saddam Hospital, and 6-year-old daughter, Abir, seemed surprisingly cheerful for a family on the run.

Grateful Leathernecks showered them with Marine unit patches, a commemorative coin and an American flag on their way to a refugee center near the port of Umm Qsar, where they hope to ride out the war.

"I love America. I like America. Why? I don't know," Mohammed said as he recounted the critical role he played in Lynch's rescue.

Iraqi Fedayeen forces raided his house, he said, taking away all his possessions and even his car, a Russian-made Muscovitch Brazilia 680.

He said a neighbor was shot and her body dragged through the streets just for waving at a U.S. helicopter.

"Very bad people," he said. "There is no kindness in my heart for them."

He got his family out of Nasiriyah on Tuesday night, hours before a task force of U.S. commandos rescued Lynch in a raid so noteworthy that the U.S. Central Command in Qatar called a 4:30 a.m. news conference to announce it.

In Palestine, W.Va., Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr., said she was in great spirits following her first surgery.

He also said doctors told him she had not been shot or stabbed during her ordeal, as had been reported. Lynch said his 19-year-old daughter, who is at a military hospital in Germany, had surgery on her back.

"She didn't have any feeling in her feet," he said outside his home in this West Virginia hamlet. More surgery was scheduled for today on her fractured legs and right arm, he said.

[Leatherneck_MT]

God bless and protect this brave man and his family.

Semper Fi

[wideawake]

Give that man a US passport.

He's earned it - unlike those scum marching around our campuses.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Give him a passport?

I say give him a vacation, give him more reasons to love America. Let's send him to West Virginia and show him some American hospitality.

[ChemistCat]

A passport, a million dollars, and a tickertape parade. We want these people to do like he did, right? I can be cynical here. There's good to be had from showering Iraqis who help us with wealth and prestige.

[Quix]

FOR ABSOEVERLOVINLUTELY SURE!

AMEN!

[Quix]

I agree with you.

Hmmmmm.

If we publicized that

the first 50 or 100 or whatever Iraqi's who brought us:

3 or 5 or 10 heads of high leadership personnel would get citizenship . . .

and anyone who brought us Saddammnnn's head

would get citizenship and $15,000,000 or so

I suspect we could get the leadership dealt with rather rapidly.

[GovernmentShrinker]

And then let's send him back to Iraq to take a high position in the new government. If he's trained as a lawyer, he's certainly qualified educationally, and he's obviously plenty qualified in the values department too. I just hope there are enough Iraqis like him to cobble together a viable government.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Bigg Red]

Bump for a story about goodness...

[RonF]

Nope. I propose that when the new civil authority is established, this man either get set up as an Attorney General, or a Supreme Court (or the next level down) Justice.

[holyscroller]

Absolutely. My husband suggested buying him a house in Dearborn, but your idea (of setting him up as an official in the new government in Iraq) is even better. In any event, do SOMETHING great for him!

[Quix]

Fine with me.

He certainly has heart enough for it, according to his actions recently.

But the citizenship thing could really be a potent tool.

[rundy]

This man and his whole family should be given immediate citizenship in the US and moved here if they so choose!

[johnb838]

Wonder if we could find a way to take up a collection for him. THey lost everything they owned helping us.

[Quix]

On unpaid sabbatical these months, I'm probably not the best one to ask. But I'd sure support it in spirit and prayer.

Even just an email bunch of thanks would be good.

[JaimeD2]

From what I know, and I'll admit that I'm fairly young and inexperienced, the Iraqi people have for a long time been some of the most decent, hospitable people you can find, and Baghdad used to be a very cosmopolitan city before Saddam drove it into the ground. To me, it makes all the more apparent how crushing a dictatorship can be.

[ChemistCat]

I don't know if he'll ever be safe in Iraq, but...hopefully so!

[3AngelaD]

I say give this guy a responsible position in the new Iraqi government. They are going to need people such as this. It will be a real shame if all the decent, freedom-loving Iraqis are allowed to come here, leaving only the dregs to rebuild their country.

[VOA]

"I love America. I like America. Why? I don't know," Mohammed said as he recounted
the critical role he played in Lynch's rescue.

It's OK Mohammed.
Many Americans can't even put into English how much they love America.

Any guy who risked his life (and very likely that of family and friends) like this...
heck, offer him US citizenship (even Dual Citizenship for USA/"New" Iraq)
and at least one free roundtrip airfare to/from the USA/Iraq for life.
For him and his immediate family.


And give him a good and responsible job in the new "Department of Justice
of The Republic of Iraq".

He's got more ethics/morality/legal justice in his pinky than MANY USA lawyers
have in their whole miserable empty souls...