International Community Shocked By Allegations Against Waad Ramadan Alwan And Mohanad Shareef Hammadi.

International community shocked by allegations
International Market owner: Alwan ‘didn’t look like the kind of person who would do anything like that’
By PAM CASSADY

When Sajad Alzuhairi, owner of the International Market in Bowling Green, heard about the arrests of two local Iraqi refugees on terrorism charges, he was shocked. One of the men, Waad Ramadan Alwan, had often worked for Alzuhairi at the store.

“I could not believe it,” said Alzuhairi, who is from Iraq and lives in Nashville. “He didn’t look like the kind of person who would do anything like that.”

Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, both of whom have lived in Bowling Green since 2009, are charged with plotting to send explosives, guns and missiles to al-Qaida in Iraq, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed Tuesday.

Alzuhairi, who runs a market in Nashville and opened the International Market here last year, said he trusted Alwan.

“I gave him a key, and sometimes I would call him and he would open the store,” Alzuhairi said. “He was good with the money and he never stole.”

Many of Alzuhairi’s customers knew Alwan and have been talking about the arrest this week. Mohamad Maali of Bowling Green said he couldn’t believe it when the two men were arrested.

“I just hope Bowling Green doesn’t judge all the Iraqis by two bad apples,” said Maali, who is originally from Palestine. “They’re not bad, they just come here to make a living.”

Alzuhairi said he came to the United States in 1996 for freedom and for a better life, as do most immigrants. He would sometimes tell Alwan how good he had it here.

“I’d tell him he was lucky,” Alzuhairi said, speaking of the government benefits Alwan received. “All my life in America, I only had food stamps for two months. He never worked full time.”

Alzuhairi said Alwan seemed to spend most of his time either at home, where he had a wife and two children, or at the market - although he did like to go to clubs in Nashville on the weekend.

Maali said he had trouble even believing Alwan and Hammadi were involved with terrorism because they never had any money and they didn’t speak English.

Hammadi would sometimes come in the store but had only worked there a few hours one time, Alzuhairi said.

When Alwan asked if he could work at the store, Alzuhairi said he hired him because he had a good record here in the states. But then Alzuhairi referenced the allegations that Alwan was involved in attacks against United States forces while Alwan was living in Iraq in the mid-2000s - Alzuhairi said that if he’d been aware of such accusations, “I’d have called the FBI on him.”

Last week, the FBI came to the market and questioned Alzuhairi, asking him about Alwan’s religious practices, what he did at the store and what he said about his home country.

“Most of the time when we talked, we didn’t talk about back home because it is hard,” Alzuhairi said.

Although Alwan was good with money at the store, Alzuhairi said he wasn’t very good with the customers.

“He was lazy,” he said. “And some customers didn’t like him because he didn’t smile.”

Alzuhairi said some customers would use the term “Wahhabi” - a conservative branch of Islam sometimes associated with terrorism - in reference to Alwan. It’s unknown, however, if Alwan actually followed that religious philosophy.

Alzuhairi said most Iraqi people and Muslims do not believe in or support terrorism.

“It is hard when I say I’m Muslim,” he added. “But believe me, most Iraqi people are good.”