The picture at right has been all over the news and the blogs today, but I haven't seen the whole story anywhere on the MSM. Click on the picture for a larger view.
The story is very sad, as told by Michael Yon reporting from on the ground in Mosul (I've copied his entire short post; I trust he won't mind):
Major Mark Bieger found this little girl after the car bomb that attacked our guys while kids were crowding around. The soldiers here have been angry and sad for two days. They are angry because the terrorists could just as easily have waited a block or two and attacked the patrol away from the kids. Instead, the suicide bomber drove his car and hit the Stryker when about twenty children were jumping up and down and waving at the soldiers. Major Bieger, I had seen him help rescue some of our guys a week earlier during another big attack, took some of our soldiers and rushed this little girl to our hospital. He wanted her to have American surgeons and not to go to the Iraqi hospital. She didn't make it. I snapped this picture when Major Bieger ran to take her away. He kept stopping to talk with her and hug her.
The soldiers went back to that neighborhood the next day to ask what they could do. The people were very warming and welcomed us into their homes, and many kids were actually running up to say hello and ask soldiers to shake hands.
Eventually, some insurgents most have realized we were back and started shooting at us. The American soldiers and Iraqi police started engaging the enemy and there was a running gun battle. I saw at least one IP who was shot, but he looked okay and actually smiled at me despite the big bullet hole in his leg. I smiled back.
One thing seems certain; the people in that neighborhood share our feelings about the terrorists. We are going to go back there, and if any terrorists come out, the soldiers hope to find them. Everybody is still very angry that the insurgents attacked us when the kids were around. Their day will come.
Isn't it telling that the Iraqi citizens welcomed our soldiers back, even after some of their children were injured and killed? Clearly they don't see the American soldiers as the bad guys. I sure wish more of that reality was portrayed in the MSM...
William at Pardon My English has a moving tribute to our soldiers posted, using the event captured in this photo as an example, with liberal reference to some of MacArthur's finest words. An excerpt:
The American soldier does indeed, drink deep from the chalice of courage.
The terrorist, on the other hand, drinks deep from the tin cup of cowardice. His very existence a scurrilous blight on humankind. A pox to be eradicated.
The American soldier, as manifestly evidenced by the above, does America proud. We as a grateful nation are not only proud of our military prowess in achieving swift and certain victory on distant battlefields but also notably in how often our brave soldiers have placed themselves in harm's way in the service and defense of the oppressed.In fact the motto of the United States Special Forces is; 'De oppresso libere' - 'To liberate the oppressed.'
DO take the time to read the whole thing...
A tip o' the hat to Michelle Malkin for getting me started reading about this incident.
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