User:Majid AL-Bahadli

An Iraqi American citizen was not free to express himself. Was raised in a political family, and was surrounded by political discussions at home for as long as he can remember. When he was 13years old, in 1980, his uncle and cousins were executed because they worked against Saddam’s regime which had taken over in 1979. Many other family members were executed or imprisoned also for their political activities. In 1991, when he was 23 years old, Saddam invaded Kuwait. At that time, the Americans encouraged those of us who were against Saddam to rise up against him. AL-Bahadli participated in that uprising. When the Americans decided to pull back and leave Saddam in power, he was forced to leave the country or face certain death from the Iraqi government. Over 150 thousand people lost their lives when Saddam’s armies punished those who had fought against him. Iraqi police hunted him for days and barely managed to escape from them. Finally, AL-Bahadli sneaked through an Iraqi checkpoint and ran straight into the arms of an enormous American soldier and surrendered to him. He arrested him, and was sent to a prison camp in Saudi Arabia for POW’s and was later classified as a political refugee which is correct. For almost five years. AL-Bahadli lived in the middle of the desert in a broken tent with thousands of others who also resisted Saddam’s tyrannical and unjust government. Eventually AL-Bahadli arrived in Seattle as a legal resident alien, and later became an American citizen. like so many people’s story, has everything to do with the consequences of American policies in the world. AL-Bahadli said "America supported Saddam; America invaded Iraq in 1991; America pulled back and let Saddam regain power; America saved me from certain death from Iraqi police. Then, America sent me to live in a prison camp and finally America adopted me and gave me a new home"