Here’s what Jim Mattis learned when he sat down and talked to a man who tried to kill him during the Iraq war

On a summer morning in a desolate corner of Iraq’s western desert, Jim Mattis learned he’d narrowly evaded an assassination attempt.

A Sunni Arab man had been caught planting a bomb on a road shortly before Mattis and his small team of Marines passed by. Told the captured insurgent spoke English, Mattis decided to talk to him.

After Mattis offered a cigarette and coffee, the man said he tried to kill the general and his fellow Marines because he resented the foreigner soldiers in his land. Mattis said he understood the sentiment but assured the insurgent he was headed for Abu Ghraib, the infamous US-run prison. What happened next explains the point of the story.

“General,” the man asked Mattis, “if I am a model prisoner do you think someday I could emigrate to America?”

In Mattis’ telling, this insurgent’s question showed he felt “the power of America’s inspiration.” It was a reminder of the value of national unity.

Read the whole story from Business Insider.

Featured image courtesy of DoD