MBVD: Where is the outrage?

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Where is the outrage?

By request, a cross post from Tanker Brothers.

Remember 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)

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SOLDIER"S ANGELS NEEDS YOUR HELP!

The Veterans Hospital in Tucson needs our help!!! They have contacted Soldiers' Angels with a list of needs for their patients. Soldiers Angels needs your help in making some of these come true.

Below you will find just a small portion of needs that are immediate. You can also find this list posted on the Soldiers Angels Forum at www.soldiersangelsforum.com you will be able to find lots of great information there for our deployed and vets.

If you are sending a monetary donation please follow the link and indicate the State you are in.

Donate here;
Ttp://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=veterans-support

COMFORT ITEMS- $350/MO
Dry Skin Cream
Slipper Socks-No skid
Catheter bag covers
Shaving Cream
Hand Lotion
Baby Shampoo
Hand Soap
Roll on/Spray Deodorant
Denture Cleaner
Underwear (men and women (all sizes)
Toothbrushes
Denture Grip
Socks (white)
Talcum Powder
Nail Clippers
Toothpaste
Ladies hand and body lotion
Backpacks
Disposable Razors
Comb/Brushes
Shawls
Shaving Cream/small
Knitted Caps
Travel Alarm Clocks
Ball Caps
Tote Bags
Shower Shoes
Pocket Size Needle and Thread Kit
Heart pillows for cardiac patients
Lap Robes (3x5 or 5x7)

GUEST SERVICES
30 cup coffee makers
Coffee supplies (reg. & decaf)
Music CDs
Stamps
Writing Paper and Envelopes
Prepaid Phone Cards for patients’

RECREATION
Puzzle books
Crossword Puzzles
Pencils
Video tapes & DVDs (movies, educational)
DVD Player

Sports equipment (basketball, tennis rackets &
Tickets for entertainment & sporting events
Balls, badminton set, Frisbees, football)

If you can send just one item that would be great!!! If each person sends one thing we will make a difference! They are also needing those who can volunteer time at the hospital just contact the Voluntary Services Dept. For information.

Mail Items to:

Department of Veterans Affairs Southern Arizona VA Health Care System – Voluntary Services 9-135, 3601 S. Sixth Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85723

PLEASE HELP US HELP THOSE WHO FOUGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM!

My Favorite Speeches and Other Items of Interest

George Bush's March 28, 2007 Discusses Economy, War on Terror During Remarks to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association;http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070328-2.html
Mitch McConnell's March 15, 2007 Funding For Troops, Not Timelines for Retreat; http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=270747&start=1
Ronald Reagan's June 12, 1987 Tear Down This Wall Speech; http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/wall.asp
Vice President Cheney's March 12, 2007 Remarks at the AIPAC 2007 Policy Conference; http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070312.html

Winston Churchill Quotes

A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.
Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.
Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.
Danger - if you meet it promptly and without flinching - you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.
I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
I like a man who grins when he fights.
I was only the servant of my country and had I, at any moment, failed to express her unflinching resolve to fight and conquer, I should at once have been rightly cast aside.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Moral of the Work. In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
Never, never, never give up.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism.
One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
The first quality that is needed is audacity.
The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.
The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.
These are not dark days: these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived.
They are decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.
War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin, keep out of the way till you can.
War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber.
When you are winning a war almost everything that happens can be claimed to be right and wise.
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Ronald Reagan Quotes

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources
Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Double, no triple, our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth. It is time that we recognized that ours was, in truth, a noble cause.
Facts are stupid things.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.
Governments tend not to solve problems, only to rearrange them.
History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
How can a president not be an actor?
How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
I will stand on, and continue to use, the figures I have used, because I believe they are correct. Now, I'm not going to deny that you don't now and then slip up on something; no one bats a thousand.
In Israel, free men and women are every day demonstrating the power of courage and faith. Back in 1948 when Israel was founded, pundits claimed the new country could never survive. Today, no one questions that. Israel is a land of stability and democracy in a region of tryanny and unrest.
Let us ask ourselves; "What kind of people do we think we are?".
Man is not free unless government is limited.
My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out.
No mother would ever willingly sacrifice her sons for territorial gain, for economic advantage, for ideology.
Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.
Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act.
Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.
Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.
The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.
The United Sates has much to offer the third world war.
There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.
Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.
You know, if I listened to Michael Dukakis long enough, I would be convinced we're in an economic downturn and people are homeless and going without food and medical attention and that we've got to do something about the unemployed.