American Angels
Surood Ahmed Falih fought back tears, describing how Saddam Hussein’s followers gunned down her mother, sister and aunt during a 1991 uprising in Iraq. Falih was shot twice, her father three times, as the family tried to flee their hometown of Kirkuk.
Now, for the first time, “I can say I’m Kurdish in Kirkuk. I’m proud. I’m not afraid,” the 33-year-old told two generals Wednesday over coffee at MacDill Air Force Base’s Central Command, the nerve center for the war in Iraq.
Falih and Taghreed Al-Qaraghuli are touring the country as part of the Iraq-America Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition of American and Iraqi organizations and individuals that aims to promote goodwill between the two nations….
Watching American soldiers drop from helicopters during the war in Iraq “was like angels coming from heaven,” Falih said.
