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Nearly three years after gunman affiliated with al-Qaeda left him for dead on a Baghdad street, Iraqi state television cameraman Jehad Ali arrived in the United States for medical treatment to help rebuild his bullet-shattered right leg.
He looked a bit dazed as he walked into my office. Was it
the journey? After all, this was the first time Jehad had been in the West. Was
it apprehension about the medical examinations and possible complicated surgery
that lay ahead? No. It was the lights of
Jehad could have flown straight to
The road ahead for Jehad will not be easy. He wants to be able to run around again with a heavy professional video camera. But one of the 11 bullets that struck him back in December 2005 took out a 1.2-inch (3 cm) piece of his femur. The wound has healed and he can walk, albeit with a limp. He will not regain his former mobility without complex surgery.
But future problems were not on his mind the day he sat down
for lunch with CPJ and Lara Logan and her staff. He spoke of his past triumph
and present gratitude. He had conquered the odds merely by surviving and
getting out of
And so, after a week in
"I'm not a bit afraid. This after all, is what I have always wanted to do, see a doctor."
And what did he want to do after that?
"I want to meet an American girl and get married."
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