Word: imad
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...Downstairs in our building was a Syrian, Imad, who saved us. For four months he brought us food and water. He warned us when soldiers came. He installed double-bolt locks on our doors. He mailed our letters. Years ago, Imad went to engineering school at George Washington University. He's very pro-American. If he were caught hiding us, he faced execution. But he never wavered. Imad is a saint...
...ashamed to say I did, several times. Imad had no money. I remembered the Anne Frank story. Her family was hidden for years and then betrayed. In Kuwait we heard so many stories of betrayal. Group members who ran off with cars or stole money or panicked...
...discourage Iraqi visitors, we got the idea of immobilizing the building's elevators. Imad agreed to knock out six of the seven lifts. He removed some parts, and the elevators stopped running. It was wonderful. Upstairs we took doorknobs off fire doors so looters couldn't move around so easily. We carried the knobs around in our pockets...
...first we believed the crisis would end fast. As the months dragged on and the U.S. forces sat and waited, we began to worry about starving. We decided to store all the food we could get our hands on. Together our group had several thousand dollars in cash. So Imad began to buy up more supplies. He delivered food between midnight and 2 o'clock. On my computer we began to keep track of our provisions. Now we could tell how many cans of tuna we had, how many kilos of dry beans. We even factored in how much protein...
...those who created noise. Two of our group, the Australian and the Irishman, took way too many risks. After a few months they acquired a hero complex. They wanted to make trips out of the building. The rest of us protested that it would draw too much attention. Imad was very much opposed. After several weeks, the two of them insisted. So we made them sign a paper saying they could not return. They left and somehow got to other houses...