American Held in Iraq Returns Home
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Yellow balloons and a bearhug from his mother greeted an engineer who came home Sunday after a wrong turn in the desert landed him and a co-worker in an Iraqi prison for four months.
“How many wrong turns does the average American make in their lifetime? Maybe hundreds, maybe thousands. This one just happened to lead us into Iraq,” David Daliberti said after an airport greeting from about 50 well-wishers.
Daliberti’s mother, Mary, who cooked her son his favorite meal of chili and noodles, was beaming. “I’m about to burst,” she said.
Daliberti, 42, and William Barloon, 39, of New Hampton, Iowa--civilians working for U.S. defense contractors in Kuwait--were arrested when they wandered across the border in March.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein released them from their eight-year sentences after an appeal by Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.).
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