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Edited on Thu Apr-29-04 09:57 AM by SoCalDem
Hi XXXXXXX
I am sorry, It has being very tense here, Many died over the last thirty days, I am out all over without force protection,I have to be careful when and how to communicate.Thanks for caring....XXX
I finally heard from my friend....
This is the only recent email I have gotten from my friend in Iraq.. I have been so worried about him, and had not heard from him since March.. There is no other "contact info" for him, so when he did not answer my emails , I feared the worst..
He is now "out of uniform", since he is Iraqi.. (He told me this , the last time I heard from him, and it has me really worried) He is active US Army, yet, since he is a native Iraqi, I am so afraid that he is now being put in danger because they are basically using him (and probably others) to "go out amongst the people", and yet, since he is associated with the CPA, he might as well be wearing a bull's-eye on his back.:cry:
For those of you who do not know "his story".. He is my one and only ever..{really wealthy} friend....{as in he did not have to do this}.. He is a generous and kind man with everything one could covet here in America. He has been a US citizen since he came here as a young person. His family fled when Saddam took over...they abandoned everything and ran for their lives.. I can only assume that he is not a Sunni, although we never had any converstaion about religion..
He sent his child out of the US to finish high school, and moved his wife to (another middle eastern country), so they might be able to see each other occasionally while he is there.
This man at {age redacted}, volunteered, and expected to be translating papers (redacted), but instead was "drafted" into active duty, and in a Quixotic spirit, set off to "reclaim" the country of his childhood. I knew just how serious he was when he sold his precious {redacted} convertible , and their gorgeous house.
He has lost about 45 pounds..(he jokingly said that his uniform did not fit him anymore anyway, so civvies were ok with him)..He was so excited to be "doing something positive", and now I am worried sick for him..
He was our conduit for the Iraqi family care packages we sent , but almost as soon as they arrived, things got terrible over there.. I hate to press him for details about when and how they were delivered, but I am sure that they were distributed.
I fear that he is so committed to his "mission", that coming "home" (here) is no longer an option.. I think he is "in it" to the end.. whatever that may be :cry:
editied to remove some "possibly identifying information"..thanks AP :)
edited again.. more redacted
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