Since arriving in the United States, after his motorized wheelchair was destroyed on the Lufthansa flight from Jordan, he's had to use a hand-operated wheelchair, despite the fact that he only has one usable hand. Lufthansa has so far not agreed to replace the motorized chair.

Al-Bayati got a piece of good news on Wednesday, though: Medicaid has agreed to give him a motorized chair. As a refugee he's covered for several months by Medicaid. He's now hoping to get a better pair of prosthetic legs, but that request is still caught in red tape.

As an interpreter, al-Bayati's job was to help U.S. soldiers as they patrolled and interrogated civilians in dangerous Baghdad neighborhoods. Al-Bayati was injured by a "super IED" as he was riding in a Humvee before dawn on what was to be his very last mission before being transferred to Kuwait.

Now al-Bayati lives with two roommates in a little apartment near the freeway in Poplar Grove. On a rainy morning he hoists his torso onto the couch, carefully placing a pillow in front of his stumps, then reaches into his briefcase to pull out a folder. Among the letters from Army officers is a piece of paper: a citation called "L-3 Titan Heart," recognizing his work in Iraq. His name is misspelled.

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How to help

With the assistance of the Utah Health and Human Rights Project, a fund has been set up for Diyar al-Bayati at Bank of the West, under the name High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project Benefit Diyar.

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E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com