Libyan-Americans rush off to join fight against Gadhafi
'My birth country needs me today,' says a 60-year-old auto repair shop owner from Illinois
Age wasn't about to stop Libyan-American Ibrahim Elfirjani from joining the fight to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. So the 60-year-old owner of an auto repair shop left his home in Illinois and trekked to Libya to help the opposition on the frontlines of the conflict.
"I decided my birth country needs me today. … I'm an old man but I have energy to kick this dictator out," Elfirjani, of Orland Park, Ill., told msnbc.com by phone from Libya, during a stop near the Egyptian border to pick up communications equipment for the rebel fighters. "My heart is still young … 25 years old."
Elfirjani is one of an unknown number of Libyan-Americans who have journeyed home to join the fight against Gadhafi. While some have taken up weapons, others are helping in the humanitarian effort, working to create a transitional government or shuttling supplies to the rebels on the frontlines. Their participation comes with a risk: At least one Libyan-American man has been killed in the fighting.
