How the Moultons Made Peace with the War

Growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime, Mohammed Harba often dreamed about living in the United States. In 1991, Iraqi soldiers killed thousands of people in his hometown, a predominantly Shi'ite city about 60 miles south of Baghdad. "I will never forget the bruises and cigarette wounds and marks of torture I saw on the bodies of those who were released," he says. He gorged himself on U.S. movies, becoming nearly fluent in English, and collected so many American comics, posters, and books that his mother referred to his bedroom as the 51st state.

On April 9, 2003, when he ran out to greet and thank arriving American troops for toppling Hussein, Mohammed's English skills immediately earned him a position as a translator. A few weeks later, he was paired with Seth. After Seth's unit moved out of Hillah, more than two years passed before the friends saw each other again.

In December 2005, Seth came home to Marblehead on holiday leave. Mohammed, who was on his Fulbright, studying comparative literature at SUNY Binghamton, was on winter break, so Seth invited him to visit. It was a practice Mohammed continued for the remainder of his two-year program. After Mohammed learned of the death threat against him, the Moultons invited him to move into Cyrus's former bedroom. "Mohammed is not just an Iraqi patriot but an American patriot, too," says Seth, explaining his family's decision. "He has risked far more for the United States than most Americans ever will consider."

When Seth went back to Iraq last summer, Mohammed admits, he felt useless. Without asylum, he was unable to obtain a work permit and found himself at loose ends. In the fall, he launched a project in Marblehead to gather and ship supplies to children in Hillah, but mostly he spent his days reading and exercising and hanging out with the Moultons' pet Tibetan terrier, Oliver (a fact that horrified his mother when she heard about it—in Iraq, dogs are considered dirty). He cherishes his relationship with Lynn and Tom, but he is homesick. "I wait until the environment is able to accept me and other Iraqi intellectuals. I have no idea when that will be," he says. In December, his initial asylum petition was approved. Though he still has to clear a security check, he has already started looking for a job and is also working on a documentary about Iraqi refugees.

Over the months, Mohammed and the Moultons have forged their own domestic routine. Every night, Lynn cooks dinner (avoiding pork for Mohammed's sake) and the three sit down in the kitchen to eat. They have taken him on vacation to New Hampshire and Maine. But, as within any family, there are areas of disagreement.

In this case, the three are pointedly at odds on the war. Mohammed, who spent most of his life under a dictatorship, has supported it from the beginning. "I can't imagine what it's like for them, living with Mohammed, who never hesitates in asserting that America's decision to topple Saddam was correct," says Mohammed's lawyer, Jennifer Rikoski. "He won't even let me say ‘U.S. invasion.' Our agreed-upon term is ‘U.S. arrival.'" The family joke is that Mohammed has converted Oliver the dog to his side. "I don't know that Oliver has become a Republican," Lynn says, "but he and Mohammed watch a lot of Fox News."