Salute...

Shortly after I left to work, four armed men in Iraqi police uniform broke into the house of S. my neighbor. Two cars, a BMW and a Chevrolet, parked right in front of S’s house where two of the four armed men ran into the house by shooting at the locks to find their way in.

Shocked, A. my other 35 year-old neighbor went out of his house to see what that sound of shooting was. “Go in or you’ll be killed,” an armed man in a police uniform barked with his pistol directed at him. A. had no other choice but to go in fearing his sons and daughters may be orphans like many other Iraqis.

For five minutes, A. couldn’t stay silent doing nothing. He grabbed his cell phone from where it was left in his room. With fingers shaking, he pressed “130”, a number the interior ministry allocated for the citizens to inform about any kidnapping or terrorist operations people may notice. “We will do our best by telling all the checkpoints around the neighborhood,” the Colonel told A. by telephone.

Shortly after he called, he heard the sound of the two vehicles leaving the street while S’s wife started calling for help.

S. is one of the wealthy Sunni people who live in our neighborhood. Living in a fancy house, neighbors believed first that these were not insurgents but criminals to ask for ransom. Eventually, they appeared to be terrorists as they were disguising in police uniform.

On the way to Taji, a town north of Baghdad where many insurgents gather and have permanent hideouts, an Iraqi Army checkpoint stopped the two suspected cars. “Open the trunk and get out of the car,” an Iraqi army soldier told a man in a police uniform. “I am a policeman,” said the man. “Whatever. Open it and get out of the car,” the soldier insisted.

After the kidnappers were being searched, the car was left empty. With no signs on the whereabouts of the hostage, the soldiers almost lost hope, until they heard the desperate knocks coming from inside the car. The hostage was helplessly struggling in the trunk, using all his limbs to make a noise that should eventually be the savior. His struggle was heard. A soldier approached the trunk and found the hostage in. The armed men’s faces turned pale.

“Arrest them,” said one of the soldiers to his colleagues. With joyful faces and big smiles after what they achieved, the soldiers accompanied S, who could not believe that he was rescued, to the army base where he called his wife, a relative, and a close neighbor.

Our neighbor who met with the S. at the base expressed how happy he was by the performance of the Iraqi army in this critical period where dozens are being kidnapped and thrown dead on the sidewalks. He narrated all what happened to us according to what S. has told him.

Yesterday, most of the neighborhood people’s talk was not only about how S. was kidnapped; they talked about how happy they were to hear what the Iraqi army did.

Although I should worry that a new kidnapping wave has reached the neighborhood, I feel that there is still some hope. Iraqi soldiers proved that they are working well. By the cooperation of the people, we will defeat all the enemies that turned our country into rubble. I am proud of A, my neighbor who proved that there is nothing impossible and that there is always a way to defeat the enemy.

A salute to the Iraqi soldiers and all the people who help them stop the crime and terrorism…