BUSINESS
New homes help
push building
activity toward
$1B mark Page 2A
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5 2017
FROM WAR AND LOSS TO TREATMENT FOR CANCER
Iraq refugee struggles on
the road to American dream
Mushtaq Jihad prepares to head into Seattle from his apartment in Renton to drive for Uber and Lyft. He said he works up to 100 hours a week for the
companies, driving passengers throughout the Seattle metro area.
BY SARA SCHILLING
sschilling@tricityherald.com
M
ushtaq Jihad is an
optimistic guy.
He tries to look on
the bright side. To stay
positive.
But the last several months have
been hard.
You can see it in his weary eyes.
In his face, which is thinner than
it’s been in some time.
You can hear it in his voice.
“I almost lost now 15 pounds for
myself again. No eat good. Some-
time no sleep good,” he said in his
broken English. “Sometime I’m
sad, I cry.”
LOCAL
KAMIAKIN STUDENTS
SPREAD WARMTH
National Honor Society
members gathered donated
scarves, hats and gloves, then
put them into bags and hung
them from the trees in a
Kennewick park. Page 2A
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Jihad often looks through pictures
of his family on his phone as moti-
vation when he gets tired while
driving up to 14 hours a day.
But Jihad’s inner steel, which
helped him survive a brutal in-
surgent attack in his home country
of Iraq, which sustained him on his
refugee journey to the U.S., which
buoyed him as he dealt with lin-
DEPTH
CHILE STRUGGLES
AFTER WILDFIRES
Thousands of people lost
most of their belongings
and their livelihoods to one
of the worst disasters in the
nation’s history. Page 1B
Business
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SPORTS
Ravens, Patriots
set to clash at
Super Bowl 51
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S U N DAY
JIM MATTIS
Pentagon
chief an
instant hit
in Japan,
S. Korea
BY ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press
TOKYO
In his debut abroad as the
first retired general to lead the
Pentagon in more than a half-
century, Jim Mattis found that
in Japan and South Korea his
experience in uniform is seen as
an asset.
Not everyone who knows
Mattis well in the
U.S. shares that
view, but he
clearly was an
instant hit in
northeast Asia.
Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo
Abe was effusive Mattis
in his endorse-
ment as the two shook hands
Friday before a phalanx of Japa-
nese and international news
reporters and cameras.
“I was very encouraged,” Abe
said, “to see someone like you
who has substantial experience,
both in the military and in secu-
PHOTOS BY KAI-HUEI YAU / KAIPHOTO.NET Special to the Herald rity, defense and diplomacy,
taking this office.”
Mattis won easy confirmation
by the U.S. Senate just hours
after President Trump’s swear-
ing in on Jan. 20. But some had
‘‘
(I think), ‘No, I’m try, I’m try, I’m
try,’ ” he said. questioned the wisdom of
The 45-year-old has an apart- breaking a long American tradi-
ment in Richland with his wife, tion of picking defense secretar-
SOMETIME I’M TIRED. ...
Adela, and their ies with primarily civilian back-
(BUT) WHEN I SEE MY four daughters. grounds.
The family In fact it has been more than
PICTURE OF MY KIDS, came to the
VIDEO
a tradition. There is a legal pro-
(I THINK), ‘NO, I’M TRY, U.S. as refugees See Mushtaq Jihad hibition on appointing a defense
secretary who has not been out
in 2008, set- discuss his refugee
I’M TRY, I’M TRY.’ tling in the journey at of uniform for at least seven
Mushtaq Jihad, Iraqi refugee Tri-Cities with tricityherald.com years. Mattis retired from a
help from the 41-year career in the Marine
local World Relief office. Corps in 2013. The Congress
gering injuries, with loss and grief, But for the past several months, had to pass a bill making a one-
with cancer — it’s still there. Jihad has been staying on his own time exception for Mattis, who
You can hear that in his voice in the Seattle area, driving for was widely praised as a thought-
too. Uber and Lyft and sending money ful, level-headed leader.
“Sometime I’m tired. ... (But) The only other time in history
when I see my picture of my kids, SEE DREAM, 9A that such an exception was
made was for George C. Mar-
shall, the former Army chief of
staff who had served as secre-
tary of state before President
OLYMPIA Harry Truman picked him as
defense secretary in September
DAYLIGHT SAVING 1950, at a crucial point in the
just-started Korean War.
TIME PONDERED Abe noted that Mattis’s mil-
itary career included a stint on
A lawmaker from Sunnyside Okinawa, which the U.S. re-
sees no benefit from springing turned to Japanese control in
1972 based on an agreement
forward and falling back, and signed a year earlier to end the
he has introduced a measure postwar period of U.S. military
control.
for Washington to opt out of
the practice. Page 8A SEE MATTIS, 9A
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