You probably know the story about the simple villager who became a hero by saving an American hero.
It’s the story told in the book Lone Survivor — and in the movie of the same name — of how the Afghan villager Mohammed Gulab saved the life of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell by binding his wounds, providing him nourishment, and protecting him from the Taliban.
To recap: Marcus Luttrell was the only survivor of a failed 2005 mission, named “Operation Red Wings,” when he was found with gunshots, shrapnel wounds, and cracked vertebrae by Gulab. Gulab sheltered him from the Taliban, despite their demands to turn the SEAL over to them, until Luttrell was rescued by US military.
While Marcus Luttrell’s story has become famous, Mohammed Gulab remained behind in Afghanistan, with his own life in constant peril. He and his family were forced to flee their village shortly after Luttrell’s rescue, their home was burned down, and his cousin was killed.
After the release of the movie “Lone Survivor,” the threats from the Taliban became worse. One public threat reads:
“You are informed that your Jewish colleagues and Americans friends are gone now, so who will save you and what will you do? I ordered my commanders and the Taliban Mujahedeens to kill or arrest you alive and bring you to me. Then I will know how your Jewish friends cannot save or protect you.”
Enter US immigration attorney Michael Wildes. Last week he was able to spirit Mohammed Gulab and his family to an undisclosed country, and now he is working pro bono to bring Gulab and his family to the United States.
As Michael Wildes said:
“It’s my way paying this forward, truthfully. The only way to take on Islamist extremists is to take on the cause of the good guys and make sure they rule the day. And he’s the best.”
“He stepped up to preserve life.”
Mohammed Gulab certainly deserves to be given asylum in the United States. If the government of France can offer citizenship to the man from Mali who hid six shoppers in the Jewish grocery store attacked by a terrorist last week, the government of the US should provide refuge to a hero who saved the life of another hero.
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