6 Comments

May his soul rest in peace! His daughters must be proud and they are so for sure.

Bassam is one of many many great men who had no fault but being the right ones in the wrong place, and time, and living in a barbaric society.

Bassam’s story and the others’ stories must be told and included in the military and other social institutions.

United States government should re-bridging ties with those who did not get the chance to be settled in the US or at least get them a pro-US community that can be supportive in too many fields. Now, many political and religious propaganda works tirelessly to show the black side of the US by blaming them for the consequences of the war even now after 20 years of the invasion/ or liberation so to speak. I may agree partially with them that the US did a huge mistake in its war on Iraq, but here I’m not talking about the war decision itself rather than the after-war phase in which the insurgency was created by the Sunnis first and subsequently by the Shiite. The US Army is the most polite institution I’ve ever seen. They were always keen to go through the IEDed streets and walk in the abandoned villages just to meet the people and to provide them with services and projects. This great job was made by the US Army and should be told to all. The world should know what the US Army has been through instead of focusing on the political side that would unmistakably show the other face of the US.

I wish you all the best, Wellman (my boss). Proud I have been a member of your team, even if not for very long, but it was much enough to get a lot of lessons.

Expand full comment

Bassam’s story is one of sacrifice & honor, & it needs to told. Thank you for the privilege of reading it, & now knowing something about this selfless, courageous man. May his family thrive, & always be welcome here.

Expand full comment

May his memory be eternal!

Expand full comment

I feel like my life is poorer for not knowing Bassam. May his memory always be for a blessing.

Expand full comment

There are so many reasons to read your lovely tribute and weep for all the Bassams, the wives and children as well as all those who left here never to return to their families.

“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is Hell”, William Tecumseh Sherman. Aside from the extensive fighting our army did to drive the Native Americans into the dust and onto reservations, we have escaped fighting any more wars here on our home soil. We slid into Viet Nam wrapped in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and into Iraq on the lies of WMD. I’m just a tax paying civilian and by no means a pacifist but I am sick of the lies that cause any more loss of life. We don’t even want to think what will happen to our service men and women if tFg should get back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Expand full comment