Injured Iraqi interpreter grateful for help

WEST VALLEY CITY — Rabeh Morad, 54, was injured in a roadside bomb that tore through an Army Humvee he was riding in two years ago.

"It was all fire," Morad said in broken English about the explosion that still haunts his memories.

He regrets not being able to save the lieutenant, for whom he was assigned to translate and with whom he became close friends during their time together working in close combat.

Morad and his "dear friend," Lt. Emily Perez, were riding together that night, he said.

After the blast and amid flames, Morad said he heard his mortally injured 23-year-old friend cry to him by his nickname: "Marco, Marco! Carry me from the fire."

"Oh," he recalled Wednesday through uncontrollable tears. "How could I? My legs were gone. I couldn't move."

Perez died and Morad spent the next 10 months on his back in Amman, Jordan, recovering from about 100 major and minor surgeries all over his body, while both legs were amputated.

The San Diego-based military subcontractor, L-3 Communications, who hired Morad to translate for troops in the Middle East, covered him through U.S. insurance giant American Insurance Group for $112,000.

At first glance, Morad, who had never seen such an amount, said he was elated. But that feeling soon faded as he learned about high medical costs in the U.S. and questioned his long-term ability to work.

What's more, AIG did not offer Morad the lump sum but instead is paying him installments of about $344 biweekly.

The monthly income of less than $800 just isn't enough — even for very modest expenses in his small West Valley City apartment.

One of his those monthly bills is a $94 payment for three airline tickets out of Iraq. The tickets were for him, his wife and his 12-year-old daughter. He still owes the government about $3,000 for their one-way trip.

"That's what is particularly irritating to me," said Ken Spitzer, professor and director of the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute at the University of Utah. "This man, after all he sacrificed, was actually charged for his flight. I can't believe it."

When Spitzer found out about Morad's situation, he immediately donated $2,000 to a fund set up in Morad's name at Zion's Bank by Carla Hitz, who has organized hundreds of charity events and campaigns for soldiers and their families. Hitz is a Sandy mother of two military sons.

A humble Spitzer downplayed the amount as "small" and said he wishes he could give more right now.