Monday, June 23, 2003

A POWERFULLY MOVING STORY WRITTEN BY ONE WHO, LIKE ME, HAS A LOVED ONE TRYING TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN BAGHDAD.
On land or in the air, our military ambulances are moving targets. They are driven by men and women who are in unarmed vehicles and helicopters. The Geneva Accords say they must not be armed because shooting at them is not allowed.

We Americans and our allies have always honored these sacred accords.

The Iraqis make a mockery out of the rules of civilization.

Saddam Hussein’s loyalists and others, I suppose, simply see the red cross as a wonderful target.

"Iraqi security officials working with the Americans say regional leaders are directing the attacks by people still loyal to Saddam, former soldiers, Sunni Muslim radicals and non-Iraqi ‘holy warriors,’" the AP story says.

I say they are barbarians.

I am sobbing, really, because it is all so sad. Deep inside I also hold anger.

The irony of it all is that while an American was the one being carried in the ambulance today, it could easily have been an Iraqi. I know, because Tom’s Med-evac flights have included Iraqis as well as Americans. They do not differentiate. The American military gives humanitarian help where help is needed.

What is most ironic is that if any of the Iraqi attackers who killed the American soldier and wounded the others had been harmed today, our medical personnel would have airlifted them to the hospital along with their victims.

What an amazing people we Americans are. It reminds me that God has surely blessed America. We are a kind and generous people. I see our military medical personnel as angels of mercy.

Please read the whole story here. If you don't have a soldier in Iraq, this may be as close as you come to walking a mile in our shoes.

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