Remember this?
Or this?
Or this?
One week ago today, I woke to these pictures, just as the rest of us did. As always when I witness any kind of cruelty to children, my broken heart shattered into even more tiny pieces.
One week! One week - and CBS reported on this horrific scene that our troops almost missed. Almost missed, but didn't; I can only guess that was by the grace of God that they did NOT walk by unknowing what horrors lurked behind the wall.
On a daytime patrol in central Baghdad just over than a week ago, a U.S. military advisory team and Iraqi soldiers happened to look over a wall and found something horrific...."They saw multiple bodies laying on the floor of the facility," Staff Sgt. Mitchell Gibson of the 82nd Airborne Division told CBS News ... "They thought they were all dead, so they threw a basketball (to) try and get some attention, and actually one of the kids lifted up their head, tilted it over and just looked and then went back down. And they said, 'oh, they're alive' and so they went into the building." [source]
One week ago, msm like CBS gave this story front page status. One week on? Nothing. Zip. Zero. NADA. You might be forgiven if you think it was all a bad dream, now that the media has gone on to the next big 'scoop'. They might have moved on, but I will not - and I will not allow self-righteous, self-serving politicians of the world to move on.
Yes, these are ugly pictures showing, for all to see, the basest of human nature, and we ALL want to turn away. The msm has, but I will not.
In the course of my life, I have worked with many abused and neglected children. Because of what I do, complete strangers still email me regularly with a never-ending litany of horror stories of neglected children. Children treated as so much garbage by the 'adults' supposed to nurture them and care for them. Every time I hear (or see with my own eyes in some cases) the neglect and mistreatment of kids, it just makes me stronger in my mission to work on behalf of the children. It outrages me all over again - even when I am so heart-sick of the never-ending stories, that I swear I can no longer be outraged. And then - and then. THIS shows up with my morning coffee, and I want to do unspeakable things to the adults who would do such things.
People like this:
Or this:
Or THIS:
orphanage worker
The caption on THIS picture?
A woman working at an orphanage smiles for pictures in front of the naked boys as if there was nothing wrong.
"Nothing wrong"????????? There is just sooooooooo much wrong with this story on so many levels, is hard to know where to begin. But begin we must, and never stop looking at pictures like this. Yes, it stinks to see these over morning coffee. Hell, it hurts any time of the day to see these pictures. But look we must. And we must act. To quote an old song "Tears are not enough". Treating this story, and the many so far untold stories like this, as one day wonders, as various media outlets have done, and then moving on, is most certainly not enough. As I looked at these the first time, I immediately had to wonder how many OTHER - thus far unknown - children will bear witness to the horrors of the state-sanctioned evil that our troops are fighting against. Our troops. I dont need to imagine the reactions of our soldiers as they deal with this day in, day out. I don't need to imagine. I know. For me, pictures like this are EXACTLY why our troops are in Iraq. And I want to go to some politicians' offices and get in their faces and DEMAND they support the mission with every cell in their bodies.
In the past, ChrisG has posted pictures here of a little girl in Iraq. This little girl, wrote ChrisG (and I am paraphrasing now Chris - forgive me) reminded Chris WHY he does what he does, why he went to Iraq, why he serves in the military.
As a member of Soldiers' Angels, and with the contacts I now have, I often see requests for shoes for children in Iraq who have no shoes. Our soldiers in Afghanistan write and ask for school supplies, teddy bears, footballs (okay, okay "soccer balls. lol). All well and good, and I am happy to report that every single request for those things IS met, by generous and loving folks - strangers to these children. Compassionate strangers a world away from the deprivation of kids they may never meet, open their hearts and their wallets so that others' children may know the simple joys of chasing a ball, swinging carelessly on a swing in a newly rebuilt playground. You know - every day simple joys that we who do not live in places like Iraq take for granted every single day.
So I have a mission for every single compassionate person. THIS mission has nothing to do with opening your wallet. It has EVERYTHING to do with opening your heart. It has EVERYTHING to do with taking the outrage that any of us feel when we witness recurring scenes like these (remember Romania? We've come a long way baby. NOT!) and demanding, DEMANDING that your politicians give our soliders every single dime they need to complete their mission. We 'cut and run' as so many of the politicians insist is the only plausable, acceptable end to this war, and I dread to think how many more of children - JUST LIKE THESE - will go unfound.
In the immediate days following the breaking of this story, a few media outlets had this - you can go here, or here, or here,(YouTube).
I don't care where you get the pictures from, or the facts from, but this mission must not fail. I have noticed how quiet all the politicians have been on this horror story. Why is that, do you think? That was a rhetorical question! I know, oh how I know, it would be s0 easy to 'turn the page' and just get back to business as usual. You know the line: WE have no business being in Iraq. We went there for oil. No weapons of mass destruction. Blah blah blah. Well, I for one have always supported our troops and their mission - whole-heartedly. For me, it is and has always been about the children. Children are MY business, and damn it - I am going to do all in my power to make sure that not another politican can turn their heads away from this story. Not another politician is going to be allowed to play bs games with the lives of our troops, or the children. The children, the thousands of children just like these, don't have the luxury of turning away. They live - and they die - in the time it is taking you to read this and drink your morning coffee. It is ONLY because our troops are there that maybe, just maybe if the politicians get their heads out of their arses, that children just like these, and you know - kids used a suicide bomb decoys (and if that doesn't outrage you, you are NOT fit to be part of the HUMAN race) - will be allowed to grow up, go to school, swing in the playground, and scream in delight. Our troops, and these children, deserve our support. Every soldier - and every CHILD, no matter where, IS one of our own.
Capt. Benjamin Morales carries one of the special needs boys from a Baghdad orphanage after finding the children suffering in horrific conditions, in this photo given to CBS News.
"We'll leave here and he'll remember us 'til the day he dies." Lt. Jason Smith [source]
Every one of these children and yes, every Iraqi child touched on a daily basis by our troops, (you know, the stories you will never see in msm) WILL remember the kind soldiers who rescued them, saved them. These children will remember that not everyone in the world treats them as so much garbage.
Please: I don't care what your politics are. I don't care of you are brainwashed by the anti-war rhetoric. That is your choice. I am telling you, in the matter of children, none of us has a choice. Really, we don't. It is said that every society is judged by how it treats the weakest among them. How willl YOU be judged? Where is the outrage? Who will join me on this mission to ensure that NEVER AGAIN will any politician be allowed to play their political games. NEVER again will they be allowed - by the stroke of a pen in their cushy, air-conditioned offices, enjoying their fat paycheques (which YOU pay), to send the message to ANY child that they don't matter. I swear that I will not sit quietly by and give the politicians the luxury of turning their head away from scenes such as these, and decide that their own games of one-upmanship matter more than any child. Enough!
This is MY mission.
Brat
(NOTE to Brat from Tanker Brothers from Spree----Thank you for bringing this to our attention and offering it to my readers)
[Update] This post is an OPEN TRACKBACK POST.
Trackposted to Right Pundits, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Committees of Correspondence, Azamatteroprinciple, DeMediacratic Nation, Jeanette's Celebrity Corner, Big Dog's Weblog, Maggie's Notebook, DragonLady's World, Stuck On Stupid, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Tracked back by:
Remembering Agents Ramos and Compean: Kill the Bil from Maggie's Notebook...
Western Civilization is filled with Idiots from Planck's Constant...
The Day of the Court from Adam's Blog...
Sunspots effect global climate from Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker...
Big Immigration, Low Employment from The Amboy Times...
It's WAR from Right Truth...
Kim Gets the Dough from DeMediacratic Nation...
Sands of Passion - An al-Qaeda Soap Opera - Episod from Blue Star Chronicles...
The Danish are at it Again! from Blue Star Chronicles...
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