5/7/2005: Soldier comforts dying Iraqi girl

The entire first-person story

Wow.

I hadn't seen the larger version of this.

Wow.

This is indeed a striking picture. I saw a much smaller version of it this morning and my first thought was that it would make a good IOTD. Seems that I was right, but not fast enough on the draw to get it to you ...

Speaking of which, I've sent along a couple, but don't know if they ever made it to you. What's the best address to send IOTD candidates to?

God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It.

probably undertoad hat cellar dot org these days.

I really want to build a submission thingie some day, but you know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It.

I think part of what makes this an effective picture is that because we don't see any easily identifiable part of the child, it makes her all the children.

I remember Bayley Lee Almon too, and did think of her when I saw this picture, her and numerous other innocent victims.

My biggest problem with these cowardly car bombers: They do their twisted deed and kill themselves instead of giving us the pleasure of retribution. If only we could capture them live..........then we could take them to Paris Island, S.C. and turn them loose for graduating Marines to hunt down like the goddam sickass dogs they are. It would be great practice for the recruits and at least some justice (however minute) could be served. That would transform their completely worthless carcasses into almost completely worthless carcasses.
How fuckin selfish of those bastards.

The girl's name was Farah.

A friend and I were waiting for Sahara to start at the theater and we were discussing whether we belonged in other countries doing what we're, ostensibly, doing. In most cases, no, we don't belong there, but there are times, and I'm not a person of extravagant sentimentality, when it's time for some people, and possibly a whole people, to try the next turn of the wheel.

Rwanda, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Kosovo, Iraq, any people where there is such a disconnect from humanity that it allows such actions just... need... to... go... away...

What a sad photo, I feel very sorry for that soldier having to see all these horrible killings. Get those bastards.

Children die in legal wars, too.

I was more pointing to the iniquity of people who kill children than pointing fingers.

Damn all wars

There have been some pretty amazing, disturbing, humorous, and emotional photos here. I have looked at every single IotD in the archive.

None of them made me weep- until now.

I cannot get sad about this. My sadness was expressed some years ago when I was so adamently opposed to this war. Anyone who supported the president in unilaterally attacking Iraq should have no right to be sad. We created these pictures many times over when we attacked another sovereign nation. And we know this will only get worse as long as Americans remain in Iraq. That too being the lessons of history.

I was sad about this little girl or her peers long ago. But we attacked Iraq anyway. If you advocated war as the president did, then you expect this picture hundreds of times more. Otherwise you were just lying to yourself. The time to be sad for this girl was back in 2002. This because America attacked a sovereign nation without even any plans for the peace. The actual death therefore being a foregone conclusion.

yep. the last thought in that bomber's mind was "how dare they attack our sovreign nation? george bush has forced me to blow up a crowd full of children. if only they had let the UN continue to appease us, none of this would've happened. allah be praised."

[edited a diatribe about brainwashed michael moore followers]

That would be "Allahu Ackbar!"

Well, TW, maybe you've used up all your sad. But I haven't. I was against the Iraqi invasion from the start and every friggen day there's some news from Iraq that makes me sadder still.

jaguar, i'm betting you're wrong. i think they're mindless thugs who prefer carnage over peace, and only use nationalist sentiment as an excuse to kill, maim, and destroy. you obviously think they're quite a bit more magnanimous. I think the picture proves my point, not yours.

they're killing their own children. they're killing people standing in line for jobs. they deliberately target civilians because they're fucking evil. the idea that terrorism is acceptable political protest will one day be shown for the BS that it is (hopefully with the rest of liberal dogma)

oh shut up MRN! it is BS, capitalist, white man, verbal vomit like yours that forces otherwise peaceful people to become carbombers. only by blowing up their children and those looking for work can they teach us the lesson we've been begging for with our imperialist quests!
don't you get it?!?!?!

*zips ups flame suit while sprinting towards the door*

Wha!?! Terrorism is "acceptable" political protest = liberal dogma? I will have to disagree with that blazing slander.

What these insurgents are doing is hideous. you mistake attempts to understand why this evil has manifested with excusing its existence, justification. There are reasons why this evil has surfaced and it would be wise to be aware of them and counter them as well as the bombers. And if you think the solution is as simple as wacking them back hard....you are an ass of whatever political leaning who doesnt appreciate the complexity of this situation.

This photo is a powerful weapon for our side.

Mr. Noodle, you need to get out more.

<i>they indocrinate their kids from the womb to kill themselves in the course of killing other innocents. </i>

Umm, this was an attack on a U.S. patrol (hence the U.S. soldiers being there, duh). The innocents, were, are, and will aways be, <i>collateral damage</i>.

<i>the idea that they are forced by our actions to resort to this kind of behavior is about 50 generations late.</i>

Right, because I remember hearing about bombs going off in Iraq nearly every day <i>before</i> we invaded.

I can't, honestly, wait until this 'greatest generation' of racists just withers off this planet, and those of us who can understand the common thread of humanity that runs through all our veins gets a chance to work for positive change without needed the threat and application of great violence to make progress.

Neocons. Can't live with 'em, *watch out* they've got their fingers on the trigger.

<i> strip away the layers of useless analysis, stop calling evil anything other than what it is: evil. it's unjustifiable under any circumstance.

microanalyzing someone who is willing to drop bombs in a mall is the most useless masturbatory pseudointellectual exercise in futility ever.</i>

no doubt, but I consider Bush more *misguided* than pure evil. Hey, but at least profits are up in the defense and oil industries. Woohoo! Profit!

What about this girl. Is she one of them?

so, right and wrong are simpleminded concepts and only through applying infinite layers of "complexity" to every situation can we find true enlightenment. garbage. strip away the layers of useless analysis, stop calling evil anything other than what it is: evil. it's unjustifiable under any circumstance.

microanalyzing someone who is willing to tie bombs to themselves and detonate them in a mall is the most useless masturbatory pseudointellectual exercise in futility ever.

And i'm not slandering anyone. liberals have a long and rich history of trying to blame every ill in the world on the united states. far from being open-minded, they have the strictest set of dogma this side of the 10 commandments, and they are as predictable as buttless leather pants at a gay pride parade. essentially, the left-wing playbook boils down to: "everything you've ever been told is wrong, because a white man came up with it"

I considered replying properly but it's not worth the 5 minutes of my life, fuck off you clueless halfwit. A lot less 2000 years ago the forerunners of your fucking religion were slashing and burning their way though the middle east in the name of christ and they're still at it, you're in one serious glass house and you're throwing very big stones.You clearly have little or no understanding of the situation beyond what FOX feeds you today, I'd bet fairly good money you've never been to the middle east, hell, you probably haven't been out of the US. You're merely demonstrating just how fucking ignorant your ilk are.

screw you whiteboy. now thanks to your bilge, i feel compelled to buy a little semtex.

*disclaimer: dear federal agents: i have no intention on following through on this thought.*

lookout, i'm gonna pop an aneurysm. quitit.

magilla, they were mindlessly carving each other into sand-covered steaks 2000 years before the united states existed. they indocrinate their kids from the womb to kill themselves in the course of killing other innocents. the idea that they are forced by our actions to resort to this kind of behavior is about 50 generations late.

and i know liberals are human beings. but they're also dumb as fuck.

Gets tricky when you're not sure who "they" really are. Your general "They" is not very helpful. Your defensiveness is blinding. No one is an angel, but there are evil doin's, This liberal goes on the record that the insurgents are evil. We've had our flashes too (see torture). But now, the US is stuck- Colin's old potterybarn riff. The trick is to be smarter, and that requires some analysis and strategy. And an ability to look critically at the situation and shift response when needed. Oh, and having the appropriate armor helps, too.

Oh and one more for this liberal record: Saddam is evil, too.

Iraqis were killing their own children before US went over there.

All that's different is that it's getting photographed now....

Yes, all of them. They all stabbed their children to death at birth, I assume you read it was in the koran too, right?

just having someone who is liberal also say "the insurgents are evil." without the usual leftist riders attached helps with the "defensiveness" (which is righteous indignation, thank you very much).

i'll flame up about dignifying those murderers with the term "insurgent" later.

You're Welcome. Flame away. Do yourself justice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnoodle lookout, i'm gonna pop an aneurysm. quitit. magilla, they were mindlessly carving each other into sand-covered steaks 2000 years before the united states existed. they indocrinate their kids from the womb to kill themselves in the course of killing other innocents. the idea that they are forced by our actions to resort to this kind of behavior is about 50 generations late. and i know liberals are human beings. but they're also dumb as fuck.

We're on the same ground as before the war. Somehow Bushites are able to ignore the consequences of their policies while claiming others don't recognize evil. Amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce And that makes it good?

Well blimey, don't think I have much to add, other than

Evil does not exist as a tangible quantity innate in particular human beings and not in others. There is no FORCE forcing 'them' to commit acts we label as EVIL. Everyone has a choice. The choice to kill and maim is a choice 'they' see as a catalyst in achieving 'their' aims. Use of 'them' and 'their' implies ANY FACTION currently or historically using VIOLENCE and proclaimed EVIL acts with intention to assert their own means. This INCLUDES insurgents, freedom fighters and legitimate War Decision Makers. 'Liberals' believe there is a REASON behind the CHOICE. They seek this reason and seek to address it. The only difficulty is that the evident underlying reason is probably WRONG. Acts of sword are not born of a=a! Reductio ad absurdum leaps of logic cannot be solved by addressing the REASON. Less 'liberal' minds jump non sequitur into oblivion, claiming the lack of logical reason MUST BE 'evil'! Insanity! Such leaps of logic happen every day, and this is their natural conclusion. Next time you think your wife's cheating because she came back late you've started a war. Do you feel hard done byand righteously indignant? You've entered a religion. Do you leave her and enter a path of thoughtless self destruction? You've suicide bombed.

hurried response while starting the day at work. in reference to the obligatory "yeah well what about the EUROPEANS" thing from magilla. cut-and-paste liberal response to any criticism of pigment-endowed humans. not the best example of it, though.

oooooh...aaaaaah......he said "neocon".

*sniffs the air*Is that a new corollary to Godwin I hear approaching?

[quote] " Leave us alone" [quote]........Cap'n Howdy..............

Psst... hey magilla, in many circles liberal was always an insult. It's just that those circles happen to be in power right now so you actually get to hear them say it.

dangit, i missed a day. catch me up -- are we still on the "YOU guys suck. no, YOU guys suck." part?

friggin liberals. you guys suck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It God Damn It.

Quote: "...they were mindlessly carving each other into sand-covered steaks 2000 years before the united states existed. they indocrinate their kids from the womb to kill themselves in the course of killing other innocents. the idea that they are forced by our actions to resort to this kind of behavior is about 50 generations late...."


Ok....I don't know if they were doing all that way back in the day. I don't care. The Middle East is drowning in religious fanaticism, and that seems to--for them--make killing ok. I do agree that the extremists are trained for suicide missions--after all, kill the infidel, go straight to heaven. And I do agree that we can't be blamed for what they do. We're not forcing them to kill children. They just don't care that children are around when they do their suicide thing. And that makes the suicide bombers lower than pond scum as far as I'm concerned.


I was in favor of the war--insofar as it involved cutting off the head of Osama and playing football with it...I'm glad we got Saddam. He needed to go. As to what's going on now--look, they need to get their shit together and work out a viable government that works for them so we CAN leave. We're not there for our friggin health. Our boys would LOVE to GTF out and come home. I mean, damn...they seemed to be thrilled to peices when we toppled Saddam. Time to rule yourselves, people. I know it isn't easy, especially when you've been under a dictatorship forever, but make an effort.




Sidhe

Wonder how many of the ones sharing their wisdom about the middle-east have been there?

I don't think that going to the Middle East is a requisite for understanding the situation on a basic level.

We know that the towers were knocked down. We had reliable, not infallible, as our gov't keeps reminding us in many differing ways, information as to who had done it. That sort of action should have been followed with a short, precise, and thorough action to capture and kill the person(s) responsible..

All of the rest we have been put through has been a waste and a sham.

Right, but perhaps it would help to understand the poor butt hole who's rideing the donkey, or camel, if he has the money to afford one.

"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun."

Which movie you monkeys?

Monkeys? OK.

Army of Darkness.

Here is a nice backgrounder on the gent who took the dying girl photo.

Very enlightening link, U-Toad..................
An ancient observation: You had to be there.
Thanks

Yes, good read.