The Captives

One of Ibrahim’s characteristics was to respect others, even prisoners of war. I often heard these words from Ibrahim, “Most of our enemies are ignorant people. They should see true Islam from us. Then you will see that they will turn against the Ba’ath party.” Thus, in many operations before shooting at the enemy, he would think about how to capture their forces. He had a very correct behavior with the captives.Three Iraqi captives were brought into the city. There wasn’t a place to keep them yet. We gave Ibrahim the responsibility of protecting them. Anything that came from the Procurement Department for us, or anything that we ate, Ibrahim gave to the captives too. This caused everyone, even the captives, to be attracted to his behavior. He knew some Arabic. When he didn’t have anything to do, he would sit and talk with the captives. Ibrahim was with them for two days before the car for taking the captives came. They asked Ibrahim, “Will you come with us too?” When they received a negativereply, they became very upset. They were crying, begging, and saying, “Keep us here. We will do whatever you want. We are even ready to fight the Ba’athists!”The operations in the Bazi Deraz altitudes started. Two of us went a short distance into the altitudes. We were separated from the rest of our forces. We came to a trench in which there were a few Iraqis. I pointed with my gun for them to go out. I didn’t think that they were so many! We were two people and they were fifteen. I said, “Move.” But they wouldn’t move at all!They were positioned in such a way that it was possible for them to attack us at any moment. Or, maybe they didn’t think that we were just two people!I shouted again, “Move.” I pointed with my hand. But, all of the Iraqis looked at their officer who was standing behind them! The Ba’athist officer raised his eyebrows. He meant that they shouldn’t go! I was very frightened. I hadn’t been in such a situation before this. My mouth had a bitter taste in it due to my fear. I told myself that I should shoot at all of them in a second. But that wasn’t the right thing to do.It was possible that something bad could happen at any moment. I held the gun tight because of my fear. I asked God to help me. Suddenly I saw Ibrahim from behind the trench. He was coming towards us. I became amazingly calm. When he arrived, while looking at the captives, I said, “Mr. Ibram, help!” He asked, “What has happened?!” I said, “The problem is the Iraqi officer. He doesn’t want them to move!” Then I pointed to the officer with my hand. His uniform and rank were different from the others, and it was completely obvious. Ibrahim put his gun on his shoulder and went forward. He took the officer’s collar with one hand and his belt with the other hand. Then, he picked him up in a second! He brought him to the front of the precipice which was a few meters ahead. All of the Iraqis sat on the ground and raised their hands because of their fear. The Ba’athist officer begged Ibrahim continuously and said, “Al-Dakhil! Al-Dakhil! (I seek refuge! I seek refuge!) Irham! Irham! (Have mercy! Have mercy!)” He was moaning constantly. I was so excited that I was about to burst. All of my fear of a few seconds ago was gone. Ibrahim put the Iraqi officer back among the other captives. That day God sent Ibrahim to help us. Then, we transferred the captives and the Ba’athist officer down from the altitudes.