This story was a particularly challenging one to put together. If I was successful, then it is thanks to a great number of people who made it possible. I want to thank my wife, Fadwa, for her unending support and insight, and my children, Eitan, Doron, and Tali, for their invaluable input. I want to thank Doug Thorpe for his time and advice on how to thread the pieces of this story into a cohesive narrative. I want to thank David Higgins for his generosity, which allowed me to travel around the country and overseas and collect the pieces of the story. I want to thank Adam Rozum for his brilliant cover design and for donating his time and talent to create the beautiful layout. I want to thank Abdullah Shawky for introducing me to this saga and the HLF families for welcoming me into their homes and sharing their story.
I particularly want to thank Majida Salem, Diane Abdulqader, Zaira Abu-Baker, and Tasnim Elmezain, with whom I was in touch constantly. Attorneys John Boyd, Nancy Hollander, John Cline, and John Bryant generously gave of their time and helped me with the legal aspects of this saga. I want to thank Dr. Hatem Bazian, Dr. Azzam Tamimi, and my friend Yousef Al-Jamal for their insight and knowledge. Finally, I want to thank Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammad Elmezain—the HLF-5—for their inspiration, generosity, and willingness to share their story with me.