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May 3 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels Editorial: Mohammed shows another side of Iraq Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal April 6 Even before Desert Storm I, Saddam Hussein's ruthlessness and his regime's totalitarian control were well known. Since the current war started, reports of loyalists using human shields, forcing irregular troops to fight coalition forces or be killed by their countrymen and similar tactics have added to the revulsion. Rightfully or not, the tyrant's persona overshadows the people he rules. Earlier this week, a different kind of Iraqi, a Nasiriyah lawyer whose real name we may never know, overshadowed Saddam. Known only as Mohammed, he is the 32-year-old husband and father who happened to see a badly beaten U.S. soldier being slapped by her captor as she lay in a hospital bed. He is the man who, after sending his wife and 6-year-old daughter to the safety of his father's home, walked six miles through a war zone to find the only people who might be able to save the soldier. Mohammed - knowing full well the risks and consequences of what he was doing - approached his "enemy" with hands held up in surrender. He not only told the Marines where their comrade was, he went back to the hospital to draw maps and note where Saddam loyalists were stationed. Not long afterward, Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued in a daring raid on the hospital by special operations forces - and with no coalition casualties. The rescuers were also able to recover several bodies believed to be those of U.S. soldiers. Pfc. Lynch, and most likely some of her rescuers, owe Mohammed their lives. We owe Mohammed our thanks, not only for saving one of our soldiers, but for reminding us that Iraq is more than Saddam and his henchmen. Iraq is also Mohammed. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams