Sami Rasouli, a naturalized American citizen, has returned to Minnesota after 18 years in his native Iraq. A few years after Shock and Awe destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure and the U.S. began invading and occupying Iraq, Sami left Minneapolis and his successful restaurant business and returned to the city of Najaf to act as a people-to-people bridge of peace between his two countries. In Iraq, he founded the Muslim Peacekeeper Team, and an Arabic-English language institute. He brought medical and academic professionals, civic and business leaders to the U.S., and invited interested Americans to Iraq. He embarked on many speaking tours throughout the U.S. to inform people about conditions in Iraq.