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PODCAST: Author William F. Penoyar discusses his book, “Surviving Dreamland”

Summit Daily News Book Review

January 4, 2018:  Surviving Dreamland – Escape from Terror describes the invaluable assistance provided by locally hired nationals that were essential to the U.S. effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.   There is an interesting article in the Thursday, January 04, 2018 Washington Post front page of the Metro section, “For those who aided U.S., a lift”.  It talks about an Afghanistan translator who saved the life of his American colleague during a fire fight by killing two Taliban fighters.

The U.S. turned to thousands of nationals in both countries who became true American patriots in all aspects except they didn’t have U.S. citizenship.  The U.S. has been slow to recognize their heroic contributions and the debt owed to them as much as the U.S. soldiers and citizens who served in these countries.   According to the article, there are still 14,000 Iraqi and Afghanistan men and women who risked their lives and the safety of their families to support the U.S. who are still waiting in dangerous circumstances for the immigration Visas that were promised to them when they were so critical to the war effort.  Now it seems they have been abandoned by the U.S. as the promises made to them are not being kept.

Surviving Dreamland includes a story of an Iraqi-American who helped U.S. Special Forces at the beginning of the war and the story of a young lady who was born in Iraq and played an important role in helping the U.S. find and kill Uday and Qusay Hussein.