The night before doctors were to cut off Nazaar Joudi's right hand under a punishment handed down by Saddam Hussein, he wrote a letter to his wife. In the letter he pleads with his wife "Do not be sad. Hopefully, Allah will replace my hand with an even better one..." This past Spring, Spirit of America joined a team of supporters including physicians, hospitals, media personalities and airlines to help make the dream of a new hand a reality for Joudi and six other Iraqis who suffered the same fate.

The 7 Iraqi men, who were punished for allegedly dealing in foreign currency by having their right hands amputated and a cross tattooed on their foreheads, came to the attention of veteran journalist Don North while he was working in Baghdad. He filmed a documentary of the men's ordeal and decided to become personally involved in seeking restituion for the men.

North found many sponsors willing to donate their time, services or make a contribution to help the men receive new "bionic" hands at $50,000 each and have their tattoos surgically removed. Spirit of America was proud to donate $25,000 towards the men's rehabilitation, room and board and travel expenses back to Iraq.

While they were in the US, the seven men became local celebrities in Houston where their operation and convalesence took place. They sat in the owner's box at an Astro's game and were honored guests at a barbeque at the historic Y.O. Ranch. But arguably the highlight of their trip was spending 45 minutes with President Bush in the White House. The men assured the President that they would put their new appendages to good use: Hammering down the walls of Abu Ghraib, the place where their whole ordeal started.

"With this hand we will begin to destroy that terrible place," Joudi said. In interview, the men were confident in Iraq's future and the U.S. role in it. Salah Zinad, another one of the Iraqis tortured in Abu Ghraib pointed out that now "We have freedom in Iraq. Now we say anything we want. Under Saddam, we whispered."

All of the men were fervent in their appreciation to their benefactors and to America for making their return to full health possible. Zinad said, "Tell the American people what all Iraqi's want to tell them. Tell them: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."