On Thanksgiving Day as I was walking with my granddaughter Genevieve in a Spokane park, I met a man with a lazy left eye who appeared of mid-eastern descent. He introduced himself as "Ali—like in Ali Baba." He said he was from Iraq, where in 2005, he was captured and tortured by an Iraqi militia group.
He told me, "They cut out my eye with a knife--that's why I have a glass eye. They released me after my family paid them a ransom. We escaped to Jordan where I got refugee status from the U.N. That's how I got to the U.S."
He said, "Yesterday, I became a U.S. citizen in a ceremony at the government building. I can now apply for a U.S. passport so I can visit my family in Jordan."
He told me how thankful he was on this Thanksgiving Day.
