Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Risked Everything for Private Jessica Lynch

by Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief

Book Overview

When thirty-three-year-old Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief made the decision to risk his life and his family to save Private First Class Jessica Lynch -- an American soldier he did not know -- it was more... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060590548
• ISBN13: 9780060590543
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Hero Of Our Time!

George Bush should buy up copies of this book by the dozens and and distribute them as he goes around the country raising money for his re-election campaign. Mohammed al-Rehaief in 212 pages does more to make the case that the U. S. should have invaded Iraq than all the rhetoric that continues to pour out of Washington. Simply put, Mr. al-Rehaief is a hero if risking your life and the lives of your family to save a total stranger defines a hero.In addition to giving us the details of Mr. al-Rehaief's part in saving Jessica Lynch, a story that has all in's and out's of any first-rate suspense novel, roughly a third of the book is about the author's life before Jessica Lynch--his childhood, adolescence, marriage, his hatred of the Saddam Hussein dictatorship. "In adolescence I grew more subversive. I'd make fun of Saddam's crooked mouth, mimicking him before my friends. Or we'd find an empty classroom at recess, load spitballs onto rubber bands, and fire away at the president's picture." Always known as a "long tongue," the author was always getting both himself and his family in trouble. A thirty-three-year-old Shiite from Nasiriya, Mr. al-Rehaief is an expert in kung fu, a skill that saved his life on more than one occasion. Though trained a a lawyer he no longer practiced as he says in a country where there is no law. Although from an affluent family, the author learned early on from his beloved father that "there is no shame in being poor" and "each life is precious." Mr. al-Rehaief is a very fluent storyteller with a good sense of humor. While a Muslim, he is not a fanatical fundamentalist and admits that he has never been able to fast an entire month for Ramadan. In a word, he's someone you'd want to invite to a dinner party. Mr. al-Rehaief, now in the United States with his wife and his daughter, whose hospitalization in Iraq is just one of the many horric experiences he describes, says that when he made the decision to live in the U. S., he felt as if he were "going home." And finally in this decent and good man's own words: "I read everything I can about Jessica's progress. When the hospital released her to her home in West Virginia, I felt like we had won all over again. More than anything, I wish her a full and happy life. . . Finally, I regret nothing. I would risk it all again to help her, without thinking twice."Welcome home, Mr. al-Hehaief.

For a "reader from Paradise Valley, AZ United States"

I know Mohammed personally. He extends his thanks to you and to other reviewers who send their blessings to him and his family. When I read the book, I would never have believed all of this actually happened if I had not heard his first hand account even before the book was published. It is truly an amazing story about an amazing man who risked and LOST everything except his life and the lives of his immediate family members. There is a lot for the family to get adjusted to in the US, but they are making progress, and generally doing well. Please continue to keep them in your prayers, and be sure to share the book with friends and family.

A Great Story, Well Told

A great story, well-told, that will uplift spirits of people from age 10 to 100. This is the story of a man who risked all he knew and all he had to pursue fixing a wrong. A modern Good Samaritan or Don Quixote. All that he ever learned and knew to be right empowered him on a journey into the unknown where his life and the lives of his extended family were uprooted, changed forever, and put at risk. This is a story of making hope out of despair. It is a story of urgently pursuing right knowing that it will not wait for convenience. It is a story of building trust in the middle of doubt. It is the story that boldly answers the "Why Me?" question. It is a story that will bring tears and smiles all at once. Anyone who reads this and harbors cynical thoughts has disconnected from his or her own heart.Read it. Ask your children to read it. Talk to your neighbors about it. If there were more people with more actions making more of these stories, terror, tyranny, and brutality would have no place to hide. The world would be a better place. Good news would fill our papers and our hearts.

Because this man is a true hero.

This man is truly a hero; he risked his life, his prosperity (he was a wealthy man in Iraq), and his family's safety to save the life of a young American soldier. This book is extremely interesting and gives an insider's perspective of the war from an Iraqi man's point of view. He tells us what it was like to grow up in Iraq living under a terror regime. I am gracious to know that a man with this amount of courage and respect for life walks amoung us; I hope he prospers with this book and his new life in America.

God Bless this Man

God Bless this man. Such love and kindness for a complete stranger in need illustrates this man's faith in humanity. It is images and stories like these that define how the human spirit is inherently good. The fact that this wonderful person would risk his life and the lives of his loved ones to help a soldier from the other side, after witnessing her being beaten, is a testament to his compassion. Just his willingness to protect his family, go against the will of his brutal government, traverse a dangerous war zone, walk into an opposition camp to volunteer this information, retrieve information on the hospital, avoid suspicion and escape capture from his own people, and then delivering this information to the U.S. forces, is beyond commendable. To give up what success he possessed by Iraqi standards and completely turn his family's life upside down for an opposition stranger is a true act of heroism. I hope his asylum in the United States is as wonderful and fruitful for him and his family as he has dreamed. God Bless him!