Knowing His Enemy - Iraqi-American Marine Ready to Help Oust Saddam
abcnews.go.com
Feb. 23 — Among the American troops who are waiting in the Middle East for a possible war with Iraq, Saddam Hussein is not a popular figure. But for Lance Corp. Tony al-Shammeree, it's personal — very personal.
"I'm about to go to war against the worst dictator on Earth right now. And I hate him the most. I mean, I hate him, with passion," said al-Shammeree, a Marine who shipped out to Kuwait earlier this month with the other members of his company, Fox 2/5.
Al-Shammeree is an Iraqi-American, born in Baghdad in 1978. His family, who are members of the Shiite minority, fled the Iraqi capital at the start of the 1991 Gulf War.
They ended up in a refugee camp on the Iraqi side of the border with Kuwait. The camp was protected by U.S. Marines.
"I always liked to look at their uniforms and look at their boots," al-Shammeree remembers. "And the first thing that was in my mind when I came to United States is — it, like, popped in my head — I'm going to be a Marine."
Al-Shammeree and his family settled in Philadelphia and, true to his words, he enlisted in the Marines.
Now, 12 years after he left the camp, he is stationed with his unit less than 50 miles away, in the Kuwaiti desert, waiting for orders to move against Saddam's regime.
Family Shares Hatred of Saddam
Al-Shammeree's family also have strong feelings about Saddam and the prospect of an American-led war against his regime.
His father, Salih As-Washah, believes any war will be over quickly, because ordinary Iraqis will not want to fight in Saddam's defense.
Even though al-Shammeree was just 13 when he left Iraq, he shares his family's deep hatred for Saddam. He remembers being a Shiite Muslim during the Shiites' short-lived attempt to overthrow Saddam's government after the Gulf War, and some of the more terrifying moments during their family's failed attempts to escape.
"It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy at all," remembers his brother, Mahdi al-Shammeree. "It was just like, it's a prison, it's a big prison. About 30,000 people, mostly families. You got barbed wires, you're surrounded by barbed wires. You live in a tent."
The boys' uncle was a major-general in Iraq's elite Republican Guard and was imprisoned by the Iraqis before escaping to the United States five years ago.
Concern for Iraqi Civilians
In the event of war, there is a strong possibility that Al-Shammeree and his fellow Marines will have to confront the Republican Guard. But he says he is not too worried: "I am 100 percent confident that our military will destroy them very, very quickly.... I would say 90 percent of its army and Republican Guard will definitely turn on him and surrender. It's going to be both."
He is concerned, though, about the possibility of civilian casualties inside Iraq, where still has friends and relatives. "That's what I'm worrying about, honestly: the innocent people, women and children. That's going to be the costs of war, you know what I mean?"
Because of his Arabic language skills and local knowledge, al-Shammeree has been enlisted by the battalion's intelligence section to help with the maps and operational planning.
"They're definitely going to use me as a translator, and show them around the areas and identify a lot of locations," he said. |
