Iraqi used to justify war by Bush admin in 2004, now finds himself moving family to homeless shelter

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/05/10/ST2009051000094.html?sid=ST2009051000094


'Coming Here Was a Mistake'
Fairfax County resident Nazaar Joudi, whose maiming on the order of Saddam Hussein was used to justify the Iraq War, has become emblematic of a new fight -- the struggle of Iraqi refugees to adjust to America, and the question of how much the nation owes them.


For Once-Celebrated Iraqi, Life in U.S. One of Lost Hope

The walls of the little brick house in Fairfax County where Nazaar Joodi lives with his family are adorned with framed photos from his first visit to this country. Here he is shaking hands with Colin Powell. There he is embracing Paul D. Wolfowitz. And, clasping Joodi by the arm, a grinning George W. Bush offers his "Best Wishes."

In spring 2004, Joodi was celebrated on Capitol Hill, at the Pentagon and at the White House as a "living martyr" of the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, who had ordered Joodi's right hand chopped off and his forehead branded with an "X" for the crime of trading U.S. dollars. At a time when explosive photos of U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib had just surfaced and public opinion had turned solidly against the war, Joodi was held out as proof that invading the country and ousting Hussein had been the right thing to do.

But now Joodi, who immigrated here on the possibility of a new life he saw in that visit, has more pressing matters on his mind: Should he swallow his pride and ask Fairfax County to move him, his wife and four children into a homeless shelter, or pack it in and return to Iraq?

As he considered the bleakness of his options, Joodi's $50,000 "bionic" arm, a gift from U.S. business executives on his first trip, lay at his feet. A wilted American flag hung outside the living room window. Joodi, a frail-looking man at 45, nervously rubbed the stump from his amputated right hand. "Coming here was a mistake," said his wife, Shaymaa Mohammad, 34. "Everyone says, 'You're Bush's friend. . . . What has he done for you?' How can I tell them that this friend sends me to a homeless shelter? There is no friendship here."

...

Joodi went back to Baghdad and proudly hung his photo with Bush in his money exchange shop. Soon after, thieves broke in, twice, killed his security guard and stole a total of $150,000. His house was bombed, burying his infant son under a pile of rubble and leaving a visiting neighbor a pile of shredded flesh in the courtyard. His son survived.

He had only one thought: Life in America would be better.

"I thought that life would be different. . . . But every day since we came, every day has been difficult," he said.

[Javaman]

1. yet another victim of the disposable tool mentality of morons* admin.

remember that guy that tried to light himself on fire in from of the white house during morons* reign of terror? he was a tool that was cast aside when jerkoff* and his room full of dopes were done using him.

Terror Informant Ignites Himself Near White House

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51575-2004Nov15.html