Sorting Out the Bad Guys and the Good Guys

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Saving baby Noor: A tale of gallantry from Iraq

Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006

THE MYTH that President Bush went to Iraq solely to dislodge Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, then changed the rationale to fostering democracy after weapons were not found, is pervasive. Yet here is what President Bush said in a speech in Washington on Feburary 26, 2003:

"The current Iraqi regime has shown the power of tyranny to spread discord and violence in the Middle East. A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region, by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions. America's interests in security, and America's belief in liberty, both lead in the same direction: To a free and peaceful Iraq.

"The first to benefit from a free Iraq would be the Iraqi people themselves. Today they live in scarcity and fear, under a dictator who has brought them nothing but war and misery and torture. Their lives and their freedom matter little to Saddam Hussein — but Iraqi lives and freedom matter greatly to us."

U.S. forces spend a great deal of time doing what they can to prove that last point, though few of those efforts are covered by the American media. One that got covered last week provides a good example of the kind of people our service members are, and the kind of people our enemies are.

CNN reported that a Georgia National Guard unit, during a search for terrorists, encountered a family whose newborn had spina bifida, a potentially fatal spinal defect. Many of the Guard members were fathers themselves, and they decided they were not going to let that little girl die.

"We . . . collectively decided this is going to be our project," Sgt. Michael Sonen told CNN. "If this is the only contribution we have to defeating the war on terrorism, this is going to be it."

The soldiers got the baby a medical evaluation and arranged financing for her trip to Atlanta, where Dr. Roger Hudgins, chief of neurosurgery at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, is to perform the operation at no charge. Now the family is awaiting travel visas, which Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is trying to expedite.

The family's identity has been kept a secret to protect them from terrorists.

"We visited them when we could, which was usually in the middle of the night, as covertly as possible," Lt. Jeff Morgan said. "Because the insurgents in Iraq like to find people that we're trying to help sometimes and either terrorize them or sometimes worse."

In case anyone has forgotten who are the bad guys and who are the good guys in this war, this story should help sort out the confusion.  

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