On Wednesday, Jan. 16, a suicide bomb attack in Syria took the lives of 14 irreplaceable people. Ghadir Taher, a former Georgia State student, was one of the four American lives lost.
Taher, 27, studied international business at the university but this was only one piece of her story. Taher was born in Damascus, Syria and immigrated to the U.S. when she was a child in 2001, alongside her parents and her brother, Ali Taher.
Itzay Francl is a friend of Taher and met her at Tri-Cities High School. She said Taher was hard-working and enjoyed being involved in school, and the two were class officers together. Taher could be friends with anyone, no matter who they were or where they came from, according to Francl.
“She was hard-working. She loved to travel. She was very brave,” Francl said. “She lit a room when she came in to it.”
Francl said that her principle from Paul D West Middle School was planning a candle lit ceremony in her honor.
“That’s how much of an impact she had on people,” Francl said.
Taher returned to Syria to be an interpreter for U.S. troops. She wanted to help people and she did.
On Dec. 19, President Donald Trump declared in a tweet that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, had been defeated in Syria. The same day, he announced a plan to pull U.S. troops out of the region. Several Republican lawmakers disagreed with this decision, believing it could even restore the strength of ISIS.
Nearly a month after this decision, the bomb went off and ISIS claimed it as their own work. Mere hours before the attack Vice President Mike Pence spoke to a group of U.S. ambassadors and said, “The caliphate has crumbled, and ISIS has been defeated.”
The horror that ensued that afternoon did not leave the world the same, as it took a woman who only wanted to make the world better with it.
“She is an American hero. She did lose her life serving her county,” Francl said. “She deserves to be honored.”
