Meet Mohammad Gulab, Hero

Why is the Bush Adminstration persecuting the Afghan who saved the life of a Navy SEAL? Last June, a four man team of Navy SEALs was inserted into bad guy country in Afghanistan. Their mission was to find and surveil a high profile Taliban target. They were discovered by Taliban forces and attacked. Three of the SEALs died and one survived. How? He survived, despite being shot several times, by seeking refuge in the village where Mohammad Gulab lived. An article in the 17 April issue of Newsweek tells the story:

Gulab brought the injured stranger home, fed and sheltered him for two days and helped contact a U.S. rescue team to airlift him out.

But Gulab did more than provide shelter. Taliban fighters visited the village repeatedly offering to pay Gulab to hand the SEAL over. Gulab refused. Irate Afghans from a nearby village that had been hit by US bombers also showed up demanding that the American be handed over. They wanted to kill him. Gulab refused. Bound by a sense of honor, Gulab put himself and his family at risk for an American sailor; a wounded one at that.

So, how have we paid him back? He was detained and interrogated recently at Bagram Air Force Bace in Afghanistan. Newsweek now reports that:

Mohammad Gulab

Afghanistan

Navy SEALS

Late on Friday, April 14—the week NEWSWEEK’s story appeared—Gulab’s phone rang. The caller told him to come to the U.S. base at 11 the next morning, and Gulab barely slept that night, thinking the Americans were going to relocate him and his family out of danger. When he reported to the main gate on Saturday, he found a pair of U.S. soldiers waiting for him. They checked his name—and then handcuffed and blindfolded him, hauling him off to an unlit room in a remote corner of the base. There, he says, he was placed in a cage so cramped that he could neither stand up nor lie down.

Hours later, two Americans and an interpreter entered the room and began interrogating him. Most of the questions were about his life and his family, although Gulab couldn’t imagine why. He was sure his captors knew exactly who he was, he says. They inquired about ties to al Qaeda, a question he considered insulting. Hadn’t he saved an American commando’s life? And the interrogators kept returning to the subject of his contacts with NEWSWEEK. They had searched him and found a NEWSWEEK reporter’s business card with an Islamabad address. The interrogators kept asking when he had been to Pakistan and where had gone, although he told them he had not traveled to the Pakistani capital.

Navy SEALs I know are not happy about this. Here are a couple of reactions to this news:

“Fuck! The assholes in Bagram will not approve REAL targets that we have, yet they screw with an actual person who helped a brother in need. Mutherfuckers!”

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“I think money to get this guy out would be better spent than fund raising efforts to help the families left behind by the shoot down of the CH-47. Those guys are dead, but we would like any future frogs to be helped by people like Gulab. It would be a good thing to bring this guy and his family over here. This sucks.”

Too bad our military and political leaders overseeing the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan do not have the sense of honor and decency of Mohammad Gulab. He saved an American and deserves better.

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder
of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm
that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by
terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously
with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s
Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized
expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk
management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety
of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio,
ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News,
and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for
publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York
Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and
aviation security around the world. Further bio
details.