Friday night was the most exciting part of the conference for me. General Sada spoke after dinner. He told us about being a "Jesus-follower" since childhood. He was the counselor to Suddam Hussein and an Air Marshall in the Iraqi Army, which is pretty much the highest position you can hold. He retired, but was recalled to service by Saddam Hussein, who KNEW that Gen. Sada was a Christian! In fact, he gave Gen. Sada the job of finding him body guards who were also Christians because he knew that they wouldn't try to assassinate him like his own people might!

During the first Gulf War, Gen. Sada was given the responsibility for the Prisoners of War. He was put in the very difficult position of upholding the Geneva Convention, which Saddam personally signed, or executing American POWs, per Saddam's son, Usai's direct order. Gen. Sada chose the high road and for his integrity, he was punished with discharge from the army and 8 months of imprisonment. The reward, however, are the lives of the servicemen who were eventually freed and released.

He confirmed that Saddam did have WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and while most were destroyed, some were secretly sent to another country to be hidden for a later time when Saddam would be able to use them. He also said that the vast majority of Iraqi citizens supported the coalition forces being in the country to help establish a peaceful government.

When asked about Saddam's eventual fate, Gen. Sada said that the country currently has the death penalty, but the people were trying to get that changed so they could make Saddam live out the rest of his days in prison...which could be a long time, since he is in such good health. One thing he was sure of was that he would never be released.

Gen. Sada struck me as being a genuine, gentle and tender man of God. He has been appointed as the counselor to the new Prime Minister of Iraq--and since that is an appointed position, it will not rest on who is eventually elected. Gen. Sada is writing a book about his experiences, but we didn't hear anything about a title or release date. I do look forward to reading it, though.

Before we left for the conference, Christopher said he would like for us to bring him back the autograph of a General. He never said it had to be a U.S. General...