Maybe I'm just a sap, but my eyes got watery when I read this...

[shirenomad]

Iraqi girl with a serious heart condition gets treatment. (The start of the story can be found here; scroll down to "Days 11-16."

Anyone who still thinks American soldiers don't care about the Iraqi people can bite me.

Comments

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

I have never thought that American soldiers don't care about Iraqis.

The only thing that angers me is that we, as a nation, invaded a foreign country with the best of intentions only to get caught there and ultimately humiliated. And many of the soldiers who fought in it are paying for it, physically or mentally.

Mind you, I'm not talking about the present. Think back 30 years, to Vietnam.

The Baby Boomers vehemently protested against it as they were were drafted then. Now they are in charge, and asking us to serve something a lot like what they protested against.

Apparently, all they learned is to not institute a draft.

THAT...is what angers me.

Addendum.

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying Saddam Hussein deserved to stay in power...or that the United States is to blame for everything 4 EVAR. All I'm saying is that this could have been solved through more diplomatic means. Like dismantling the insane levels of corruption within the U.N. Oil for Food program, for example. Like actually sticking it to Saddam so he couldn't get away with keeping all the food money for himself.

I don't know. This whole thing is too expansive and emotional for me to wrap my mind around. *Sighs.*

[shirenomad]

And many of the soldiers who fought in it are paying for it, physically or mentally. [...] Apparently, all they learned is to not institute a draft.

On the contrary. I have yet to hear from a ground soldier who served in Iraq and regretted going. In fact, several remembered seeing appreciation from the Iraqis for their presence.

As for "caught and humiliated," that remains to be seen. But maybe if we heard more about the good going on in Iraq, instead of just body counts, we'd think twice about using the latter word, at least.

NASA Director: This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever faced.
Gene Kranz: With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.
- "Apollo 13"

[shirenomad]

Tell me why an "occupying force" would go to so much effort to save one foreign girl. Tell me how the insurgents, if encountering a American child, would hesitate for a moment before kidnapping or killing her. Tell me how Saddam or his forces would have lifted a finger to save her as one of their own people.

No, that's not what makes it "okay." We continually go out of our way to injure or kill civilians, but it's never "okay" when we fail in that objective.

That, and hundreds of other stories like it, are what makes it worth it.

[mountainranger.livejournal.com]

"it certainly does not show that our soldiers are any more or less human than anyone else"

Rather than kill or rape the girl, they helped her.

I am pretty sure that makes them more "human", depending on what you mean by human, than some other people.

[shirenomad]

*cough*mass graves*cough*

[mountainranger.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to assume that "the other side" would do that, if you mean the other side in Iraq.

I mean there America, and Americans, at least some of them, are still more noble than some other countries. There have been, as CMZ mentioned, mass graves. There has been a Holocaust. There have been prison/death camps (you can compare Guantanamo Bay if you wish, but I suggest that such a comparison would be ridiculous). There are suicide bombers. Haven't people been driven over by tanks in China in the past? And jailed for speaking against the government? And haven't certain cultures (Taliban, for instance) demeaned and oppressed women?

You can say the U.S. does similar things, or is -going to- in the future, but I'm just saying there are certain large differences in the United States' heritage and history as compared to most other countries in the world.

[mountainranger.livejournal.com]

Slaves, yes, but even then people who wanted slaves didn't just want to collect them in mass to kill them.

I'm not very familiar with the Japanese thing; was it comparable to some of the practices I mentioned?

[shirenomad]

This sums it up pretty well. Essentially a mass racial arrest, and totally unacceptable, even if there were real spies among the arrested (as I have little doubt there were). But to my knowledge, no deaths or direct torture.

[shirenomad]

Yeah, I mean we only had slaves and concentration camps for the Japanese -- what do they matter?

So you're saying that we haven't improved at all since then? Yes, we have a dark history, and we're right to regret it, but this generation shouldn't have to bear the sins of the father. We're improving -- we're not perfect, and never will be, but we're improving.

Meanwhile, the other side is still sawing the heads off civilians and publically celebrating when they do it. Saddam was gassing Kurds this decade (and would have continued to if he hadn't been removed); insurgents are deliberately blowing up civilians and rescue workers right now. Don't put our troops in the same boat as them.

Just to add another voice...

[pretzelcoatl.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I wasn't for the war, but I still think that's pretty damn cool.