Crosses stand near America's Palestine
By Bob Weaver
Spring has brought the rural Wirt County community of Palestine to life this week, after a long hard winter.
It has been a topsy-turvy winter for the Lynch family on Mayberry Run. Their 20-year-old daughter Pfc Jessica Lynch was
captured March 23rd when the 507th Maintenance Company convoy was ambushed. She was then rescued from an Iraqi
hospital on April 1 after US forces got a tip from a an Iraqi man identified then as "Mohammed."
The rest is an "American Dream" story, reported in every paper around the world and on every TV news channel.
Jessi's Home Project,improvements to her country home on Mayberry
Last week Palestine residents planted a small garden near the town's meeting place to remind the community of the actions of
a mysterious Iraqi lawyer. Volunteers from Friends of Mohammed and the Islamic Association of West Virginia joined local
residents for the garden ceremony.
They were unaware the Iraqi man was already in America.
The announcement was made yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Better yet, the United States is
granting asylum to the Iraqi lawyer who helped commandos find and rescue prisoner of war Jessica Lynch.
Ridge identified the man as Mohammed Al-Rehaief (ahl-RAY'-ehf). He says the 33-year-old lawyer and his wife arrived in
the U.S. earlier with their five-year-old daughter. He is reportedly staying the the Washington DC area.
Asylum will allow Al-Rehaief and his family to remain in the United States indefinitely. He can apply for permanent residency
within a year, and five years after that, he'll be eligible to apply for US citizenship.
Lynch's grandmother, Wyonema Lynch, says she's grateful for Al-Rehaief's actions and calls him a hero. The Friends of
Mohammed group is working to bring Al-Rehaief to West Virginia.
The pastoral village stands in waiting to to greet their native daughter and her Iraqi friend, hopefully before the end of
summer.
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