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POW's rescuer offered asylum
29/04/2003 20:09 - (SA)
Washington - An Iraqi citizen who helped US commandos find and rescue a captured American soldier has been offered asylum in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Tuesday.
The Iraqi has been described as a lawyer whose wife was a nurse at the hospital where the injured US prisoner of war was being held by forces loyal to the now-ousted Baghdad government. On a visit there to see his wife, he reportedly saw American Private Jessica Lynch, 19, being mistreated and made his way to US forces to alert them, giving them the location and even drawing a map of the hospital to help special forces find the room where Lynch was being held.
She sustained multiple injuries - including broken bones - when her supply convoy was ambushed near an-Nasiriyah on March 23. Five others in her 507th Maintenance Company unit were captured and several others killed in the battle.
The bodies of several US soldiers were also recovered on the mission that freed Lynch.
She is now undergoing medical treatment and an extensive rehabilitation process in a Washington military hospital.
The lawyer, his wife and daughter have been in the United States since early April, Ridge said. - Sapa-DPA
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