Soldier of Saddam a beacon for new Iraq

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Home was a short drive but a lifetime away for Capt. Furat, a young Iraqi army officer whose courage under fire exemplifies America's best hopes for the budding military force.

While other soldiers visited relatives in nearby towns and villages on weekends, Capt. Furat remained at his base north of Baghdad for fear of exposing his family to danger; he had become too well-known and the death threats too specific.

At least, that was the case until he made a fateful visit home on Christmas Day.

Capt. Furat -- whose family name has been withheld from this article to protect his relatives -- served as a special forces soldier in Saddam Hussein's army and took an American bullet in the leg during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Later that year, he joined the new Iraqi army as what is now known as the "Tiger Battalion" was being formed in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

That alone made him a target in the mixed Sunni-Shi'ite region, where the tensions that fuel the Iraqi insurgency remain intense.

Leading by example

Capt. Furat loved a soldier's life. A powerfully built man who once boasted that blood from an earlier battle still stained the knife that hung from his belt, he had begun to gain superhero status among the men he led and the Americans soldiers with whom he fought.

Over time, the battles with insurgents became more frequent. Attacks came in spurts, sometimes two or three in a single week.

Capt. Furat typically would be leading his men in flimsy, unarmored Nissan pickup trucks when insurgents struck, usually with a roadside bomb followed by a burst of bullets from the palm groves lining the Diyala River and its tributaries.