| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Between friends and family | |
| 2004-10-17 | |
| I dont' know if this has been posted before, as this story is a week old, but I don't recall seeing it and it was in my local paper today. This is only about 10% of the article, so go to the link to read the whole story. Bet you can't keep a dry eye. Help here. His father was once an army captain in the Republican Guard, the core of the Iraqi military. His father beat him and Steve-O's body bears the scars. His left eye is misaligned, a result of his father kicking him in the head. Once, his father took a red-hot spoon and pressed it on top of Steve-O's left hand. "My father," the teen said, rubbing the scar. After America invaded Iraq in March 2003, his father led a 40-man insurgency group. The beatings, Steve-O said, got worse, and his father became withdrawn. His father wanted him to fight the Americans. Steve-O, who only has a third-grade education, tried to run away to Fallujah, but was caught and reluctantly accompanied his father on four missions. He couldn't bring himself to fire the AK-47 his father had given him, so he would hide, once in a stream, as American soldiers passed by him. They didn't seem so bad. He had seen soldiers giving candy to Iraqi children, and they had never done anything to him. He knew he couldn't tell his father that. So, he would empty the ammunition from the rifle and tell his father he shot Americans. "My father was very happy. He was very pleased. He gave me money," Steve-O said. Steve-O feared for his life and those of his brothers and sisters. One day last December, Steve-O told his family he was going to Syria to find work. Instead, he walked to the border checkpoint, where Dragon Company was stationed, and said he wanted to turn in his father.
| |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #2 From the article: Hendrex gave Steve-O...his floppy hat with âHendrexâ stitched in the back, in English and Arabic. Keep it, he said, until we see each other again. Hendrex didnât know if that would happen. Well, Steve-O can't run for President, but maybe one day he will run for the Senate, and he'll open his briefcase and tell a reporter about his magic hat. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-10-17 1:17:46 PM |
| #1 Thanks for running it again and giving it a title. Guess I got a little worked up. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-10-17 10:56:59 AM |