December 24, 2007
A Nice Iraq Story for Christmas
I am not going to post a war story for Christmas, so here’s a genuinely touching story from Iraq for a change.
MAUSTON, Wis. - Capt. Scott Southworth knew he'd face violence, political strife and blistering heat when he was deployed to one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas. But he didn't expect Ala'a Eddeen.Read the whole thing. It is much longer, and worth it. It isn't legal for foreigners to adopt Iraqi children, but this man found a way.Ala'a was 9 years old, strong of will but weak of body — he suffered from cerebral palsy and weighed just 55 pounds. He lived among about 20 kids with physical or mental disabilities at the Mother Teresa orphanage, under the care of nuns who preserved this small oasis in a dangerous place.
On Sept. 6, 2003, halfway through his 13-month deployment, Southworth and his military police unit paid a visit to the orphanage. They played and chatted with the children; Southworth was talking with one little girl when Ala'a dragged his body to the soldier's side.
Black haired and brown eyed, Ala'a spoke to the 31-year-old American in the limited English he had learned from the sisters. He recalled the bombs that struck government buildings across the Tigris River.
"Bomb-Bing! Bomb-Bing!" Ala'a said, raising and lowering his fist.
"I'm here now. You're fine," the captain said.
Over the next 10 months, the unit returned to the orphanage again and again. The soldiers would race kids in their wheelchairs, sit them in Humvees and help the sisters feed them.
To Southworth, Ala'a was like a little brother. But Ala'a — who had longed for a soldier to rescue him — secretly began referring to Southworth as "Baba," Arabic for "Daddy."
Then, around Christmas, a sister told Southworth that Ala'a was getting too big. He would have to move to a government-run facility within a year.
"Best case scenario was that he would stare at a blank wall for the rest of his life," Southworth said.
To this day, he recalls the moment when he resolved that that would not happen.
"I'll adopt him," he said.
Great story! Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Keith at December 24, 2007 01:22 PMMichael-
You are the man. What a great story. Thanks.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com
Posted by: James Halm at December 24, 2007 04:21 PMDidn't read the story yet; just dropped by to wish you a Merry Christmas. Pass it on to your wife, she must be a remarkable woman if she's able to cope with being separated from you for extended periods of time. Al-Salaamu aleikum!
Posted by: Paul MacPhail at December 24, 2007 04:44 PMhttp://cum-swallow.blogspot.com
Posted by: jewelry stores at December 25, 2007 05:55 AMLife improves one miracle at a time.
The hardest part with miracles is those times when they get so draining that you just want to give up. Faith and gentle prodding - like a kick upside the head from the Head Office - keeps you on track.
Posted by: M. Simon at December 25, 2007 06:09 AMMichael,
Despite the lousy name the above url is relevant:
Posted by: M. Simon at December 25, 2007 06:12 AMVery strange indeed. To use such a turn off name as pitch to sell jewelry.
Marry Christmas.
Happy holidays to all.
Posted by: leo at December 25, 2007 12:37 PMNot so strange. What do you think inspires most jewelery purchases?
(Great story.)
Posted by: James M. at December 25, 2007 02:44 PMWOW!!!!
And no mention of this from our "drive bye" media. Imagine that.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!
Posted by: Kyle at December 25, 2007 08:00 PMWow, very touching story, thanks for directing us to it.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson122307.html
I imagine many of your readers stumble across this sort of thing anyway, but in case folks are surfing less during the holiday I thought I'd paste this here.
Best wishes...!
Posted by: Scott Moshen at December 25, 2007 08:30 PMWhat a beautiful story. Thanks, Michael.
But after feeling great satisfaction while reading it, I now have boiling blood when thinking of our mainstream media and the greater world media, for that matter. They have NO EXCUSE for not reporting stories like this and I'm disgusted at them and reluctance to report anything good from Iraq.
Actually, my disdain for them transcends Iraq. All they can ever bring us are a multitude of stories featuring death and destruction. I don't recall reading anywhere the death and destruction was all that could be reported and positive stories of any type were taboo, but yet it seems like the media have had that guideline ingrained in their minds for far too long.
They are a bunch of tin men who need to see the Wizard of Oz to get a heart!
Posted by: Tom at December 26, 2007 11:09 AMTom,
The AP did report this one. There should be more stories like this, I agree, but there aren't zero.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten at December 26, 2007 11:23 AMMerry Christmas, Michael!
Even better than the story about Capt. Southworth and Aala is the video. I wept thorough the whole thing:
http://msunderestimated.com/2006/11/23/im-thankful-for-capt-scott-southworth-video/
Posted by: Michael Barger at December 26, 2007 11:36 AMThe treatment of handicapped people in the Middle East, I think, is a huge shame. It gets even worse if you talk about people with mental illness.
I remember being recounted a story of a young girl chained to a column in a house in the Gulf. The person visiting say this and said it was clear that the girl was mentally retarded. The family members felt they thought she was possesed by "jinn" or spirits and that was the reason for her condition.
Understanding of mental illness is coming slowly in the Middle East, but there still is a lot of educating to be done. A new center in Dubai dealing with mental illness is sure to help this.
Posted by: Marc at December 27, 2007 05:30 AM
