Free Republic

Lawyers for some of the seven Marines and a Navy medic charged with murdering an Iraqi man are questioning the credibility of their Iraqi accusers, suggesting they may have been motivated by money or sympathy for the insurgents. The defense attorneys said they will also try to get the troops' incriminating statements thrown out. The lawyers are starting to put together their strategy now that they have been given copies of the Pentagon's investigation into the April 26 killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania. Authorities say Awad was kidnapped from his home and shot during a search for insurgents....

National media medic Dr James Wright has been dealt a double whammy that could affect his charity work. Sticky-taped to the inside of the front door at Dr James Wright's extremely modest red-brick Sydney house is a crisp $100 note. It's for emergencies, to be used when some hard-luck case turns up in the middle of the night or if a charity knocker catches him empty-handed. When it's gone it is replaced with another one, taped in the same spot. You get the impression the family gets through a lot of tape. Money, the media medico explains in the excitable...

AL ASAD, Iraq (May 19, 2006) -- Since Cpl. Haider Mohammed Jender joined the Iraqi Army a year ago, he has learned how to combat insurgents and provide security to his people. Now, the 34-year-old Iraqi soldier has completed what he says is the most important training he’ll ever receive – how to save lives. Jender was one of 20 Iraqi soldiers who recently graduated from an Iraqi Army’s Basic Medical Course here – the first in western Al Anbar Province – five weeks of lectures, written examinations and practical application on what U.S. medical personnel deem as crucial life-saving...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, May 17, 2006) – Iraqi Army Soldiers are now bringing their own medics to the battlefield. During Operation Iron Triangle, medics from the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, were a prevalent force among detainees. “My duty is to help anyone who is sick or a casualty,” said 1st Sgt. Zaed Sudan, an Iraqi Army medic who helped check and treat detainees. “If there were casualties on any side we would work together to take care of them,” said Sudan. “We are ready at any time for what may happen.” Working with coalition...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2006 – The new HBO documentary film "Baghdad ER" is much more than just a series of gruesome images flickering across a screen. It is a poignant testament to the sacrifice of American troops and the dedication of military medical personnel. Medical personnel work on a patient in a scene from HBO's documentary film "Baghdad ER." Photo courtesy HBO  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill were given eight weeks of unfettered access to the Army's 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad during the spring and summer of 2005. The result...

Desmond T. Doss Sr., 87, an Army medic on Okinawa during World War II who saved more than 75 wounded soldiers at great personal peril and became the first conscientious objector to the receive the Medal of Honor, died March 23...Mr. Doss was one of only two conscientious objectors to receive the Medal of Honor. ...Mr. Doss grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose tenets forbid bearing arms. However, when he was called to the draft, the lanky native Virginian declined a religious exemption that would have allowed him to continue working in a shipyard. He served in the...

This article first ran in The American Spectator's February 2006 issue. LOOK AT THE FRONT PAGE of any major U.S. newspaper or the evening news on cable and network television and you'd think Iraq really was another Vietnam. All you hear about are kidnappings, beheadings, and suicide bombings. Every death in Iraq -- be it U.S., Coalition, or civilian -- is reported as if it were the assassination of Lincoln or Kennedy. Of course, while every combat death is an individual tragedy, the U.S. is making slow but steady progress in Iraq. We're training Iraqi forces to police their own...

March 23, 2006 Good News & Bad From Iraq's Front Lines by Joe Katzman at March 23, 2006 02:58 PM Tony writes in with a tip from the Peoples' Republic of Boulder, CO. This guy is a hero: "I ran back to the lead vehicle and told the major what was up. He agreed with me that we didn't have time to try and get them to retrieve their own. He asked me what I wanted to do. I said I want to get them sir. So the plan was to take the lead vehicle with the .50 cal...

CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (March 21, 2006) -- Tucked neatly inside the Marines’ base here is an Iraqi Army camp, where Iraqi soldiers are training day and night to learn the skills they’ll need to eventually relieve Coalition Forces of security operations in Iraq. The Iraqi soldiers here – part of the 2nd Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division – have spent months learning everything from basic marksmanship to administration and now, medical evacuation and treatment. Most recently, the soldiers here received arguably some of the most crucial training they’ll need to survive in western Al Anbar Province – how to...

U.S. Army Maj. Colleen Shiraishi Mom Tends to Injured in Iraq By Spc. Cassandra Groce 133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment TIKRIT, Iraq, March 17, 2006 — The “Dura Mater,” or tough mother, of medicine at the Ambulatory Care Center here is an integral part of the leadership of the 47th Combat Support Hospital, 30th Medical Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Maj. Colleen Shiraishi, the officer in charge of the ACC and a nurse practitioner, has served in the military for more than a decade. Being a mother of three with an experienced background in medicine has made her...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Feb. 17, 2006) -- Critical medical operations to save the life of a wounded comrade are extremely stressful in the rear, where there is proper medical equipment. Conducting them in the back of a humvee while it speeds through a hail of shrapnel and small arms fire, however, is a true test of one’s proficiency and courage. Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan McDonell faced and overcame that challenge a year ago in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for it during a ceremony at Camp Margarita Feb. 17. “I accept this recognition...

CAMP BULLIS, Texas (Army News Service, Feb. 8, 2006) – A world-renowned cardiologist and top-ranked university vice president, Dr. Ward Casscells joined the Army at age 53 and led the service’s research on avian flu before graduating Feb. 3 from his officer basic course. Casscells is a teacher, doctor and champion of humanitarian relief, with countless hours spent tending to victims of hurricanes, tsunamis and terrorist acts. His studies have led to breakthroughs in cardiology, and his years of research on avian flu are now deemed cutting edge as a potential pandemic begins to loom. With more than 30 years...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2006 – The Air Force's aeromedical evacuation system is unlike any system that's ever been fielded and has contributed greatly to the joint service team, the Air Force surgeon general said here today. Since the war on terror began, the Air Force has moved more than 31,000 patients back to the U.S. for treatment and has saved countless lives, Air Force Lt. Gen. (Dr.) George Peach Taylor Jr. said at the State of the Military Health System 2006 Annual Conference. "When you couple an expeditionary medical team with a great air evacuation system, miracles can happen," he...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2006 – The military health system has revolutionized battlefield medical care in the past four years, reducing fatalities and raising the quality of care to all-time high levels, two Defense Department officials said here today. Injured servicemembers are now more quickly transported from the battlefield to medical facilities where they can receive advanced care, and more of them are surviving because of it, David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said at the State of the Military Health System 2006 Annual Conference. "You have produced the lowest loss among wounded that this country has...

EDMONTON - With part of his leg blown off, Master Cpl. Paul Franklin wrapped a tourniquet around his thigh, then went to help three other wounded passengers after a suicide bomber destroyed the military vehicle he was driving. "He's a medic, so he had the wherewithal to do that," Audra Franklin said from her home in Edmonton, proudly describing her husband's heroic actions yesterday in Kandahar. From her composure as she sat watching replays of the footage on TV, it was hard to tell her husband had just lost his lower left leg and had his right leg shattered. "I...

AL TAMAL, Iraq (Jan. 14, 2006) -- Seaman Bryan W. Stocks, a 20-year-old Kenai, Alaska, native and platoon hospital corpsman for 3rd Platoon, Company A, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, had a tough choice to make when he was considering enlisting into the Navy: nuclear physics or medicine. One involves high mathematics and accounting for the behavior of atoms; the other, calculating medicinal dosages and accounting for the behavior of human beings. Two equally demanding and difficult jobs suitable for only the most trustworthy and intelligent of enlistees. Ultimately, though, the decision came down to a question of what Stocks...

FORT DETRICK, Md. (Army News Service, Jan. 10, 2006) – Crucial equipment to help wounded Soldiers in Iraq has been fielded over the past five months, thanks to a new system of communication between medical units in theater and experts here. Anticipating what materiel the Army's medical professionals need before they deploy is one of the missions of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Now the command has a system in place that lets Army medical units tell the command what they need even after they've deployed. By tagging along as a medical expert on the Army Materiel...

Georgia Guard Troops Help Ailing Iraqi Teen Soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team arranged for an ailing Iraqi teen to be evaluated at a combat support hospital and then transfered to Baghdad for additional treatment. By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Britt Smith 48th Brigade Combat Team CAMP ADDER, AN NASIRIYAH, Iraq, Jan. 6, 2006 — In the middle of a country where medical care is tough to come by, a new bond was recently forged between Georgia’s Army National Guard soldiers and local Iraqi citizens. Ibitisam Hameed Kassar, a 17-year-old Iraqi girl from the An Nasiriyah area, was...

MOSUL, Iraq - Spc. Lucas Crowe, a medic with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, was awarded the Bronze Star from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a special awards presentation Dec. 24 at Forward Operating Base Courage. On Dec. 15, Crowe saved the life of an Iraqi two-year-old boy who had nearly drowned in the basement of his family home. The child had stopped breathing until Crowe administered first aid saving the boy’s life. Rumsfeld pinned the Bronze Star on Crowe and congratulated him for a job well done. The secretary was on a...

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq — First Lt. Jeff Morgan watched with concern as Soad Jaffar al-Hasan cradled her precious baby girl, the mother's smile masking the inevitable. Morgan, a single father of five from Georgia, knew that in a few months, possibly weeks, Noor, al-Hassan's firstborn, would succumb to a birth defect. "If no one helps us, the baby will die," Noor's grandmother, Iman Sami Abbas, told visiting soldiers with the Georgia Army National Guard. Noor, whose name means light in Arabic, was born with a severe form of spina bifida. Iraqi doctors lack the resources to treat her. They sent...