| Wednesday, April 9, 2003 |
18:30 - The Real Heroes
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/war_pow_s_
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Good-- I'm glad this is happening. I hoped it would.
First, they have to find him. But when they do, residents of this small town want to thank the Iraqi man who helped save POW Jessica Lynch by bringing him to West Virginia.
The man, a lawyer known only as Mohammed, reportedly led U.S. troops to the hospital where Lynch was being held. The 19-year-old Army private was rescued last week and is recovering at a military hospital in Germany. Mohammed's role hasn't been confirmed by the military.
The effort to track down the man is being led by James Thibeault, who has founded Friends of Mohammad. The organization will be based in Lynch's hometown of Palestine, which is about 70 miles northwest of Malden, a Charleston suburb.
The man walked fifteen miles-- from the hospital out into the desert to where the troops were, then back, where he made maps of the hospital (undoubtedly at severe risk of life and limb) and then back again-- to save a woman whom he didn't even know from torture and certain death. Whatever awards we have that can be given to foreign nationals, he deserves. I hesitate to "rank" such things, but his deeds' merit is easily on par with that of Lynch's own, if not greater.
That said, and as alluded to in this article, there may be something either very hopeful or really bizarre about an organization based in a place called Palestine named "Friends of Mohammad", whose purpose is something so non-partisan and human. It's about time.
I wonder how they'll find him, though. "Um... we're looking for a man named Mohammad. Anybody know a Mohammad living in this town...?"
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