Posted on 04/24/2008 9:23:46 PM PDT by neverdem
BAGHDAD — Shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, there was a desperate wail at the back gate of B Company’s compound in Sadr City. A woman had been badly burned and her relatives were begging for help.
With little in the way of emergency services and travel hampered by blocked streets, nightly curfews and sporadic firefights, a steady trickle of Iraqis has been turning to the American soldiers here for medical care.
Medics who have trained for combat have attended to a seizure victim, an infant brought in by an anxious father and a boy wounded by gunfire. On Thursday, they cared for Samera Tula, who had been seared over much of her body when a propane tank accidentally exploded.
Providing care to Iraqi civilians and Iraqi soldiers “has been the excitement of being here so far,” said Specialist Joshua Bosley, one of the medics here.
Wednesday had been a relatively quiet day at the base for the company, which is part of the First Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment. The American military, which moved into Sadr City to try to stop the rocket attacks on the Green Zone and help the Iraqi government establish order, had organized a clinic lasting several hours that was staffed by Iraqi doctors.
The American medics were available to help in case of an emergency but did not participate. The calculation was that using an all-Iraqi medical staff would build the confidence of Sadr City residents in the Iraqi government.
More than 300 Iraqis showed up. In many cases, the care consisted of little more than a two-minute consultation and the dispensing of a packet of pills. But the residents in this impoverished warren of the Thawra district were grateful to have received that much.
By midafternoon, the clinic was over, the Iraqi doctors were gone...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And .. it reminds me of what Pope John Paul said about America: “I come as one who wishes you to fulfill completely YOUR NOBLE DESTINY OF SERVICE TO THE WORLD”.
And .. the drive-by’s can’t be bothered to tell the story.
They cannot process your quote in thier brains...it just can’t compute for them because the theme and result always has to be how America is wrong.
That is the most beautiful and honorable praise that he could give us.
When Benedict criticised the Amreican Bishops for thier failures the media did not understand that he was criticising thier actions. The media thought he was talking to everyone in America. He was talking to the official body of the Bishops first and foremost on that day.
They(media) did not understand. Because the Church is not a democracy and the media wants to think of it as such.
Bravo!
ping for later.
The confidence in the Iraqi govt. will also diminish the influence of Mookie, and his Mahdi army.
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