June 24, 2003
I interrupt the song of my vacationing self to confront the ongoing and frustratingly tough stuff. From a piece in the Oakland Tribune:
BALAD, Iraq -- On a scorching afternoon, while on duty at an Army airfield, Sgt. David Borell was approached by an Iraqi who pleaded for help for his three children, burned when they set fire to a bag containing explosive powder left over from the war in Iraq.
Borell immediately called for assistance. But the two Army doctors who arrived about an hour later refused to help the children because their injuries were not life-threatening and had not been inflicted by U.S. troops.
Now the two girls and a boy are covered with scabs and the boy cannot use his right leg. And Borell is shattered.
"I have never seen in almost 14 years of Army experience anything that callous," said Borell, who recounted the June 13 incident to The Associated Press.
[snip]
…Iraqis maintain the Americans have not lived up to their promises to improve security and living conditions, and incidents like the turning away of the children only reinforce the belief that Americans are in Iraq only for their own interests.
[snip]
For Borell, who has been in Iraq since April 17, what happened with the injured children has made him question what it means to be a U.S. soldier.
"What would it have cost us to treat these children? A few dollars perhaps. Some investment of time and resources," said Borell, 30, of Toledo, Ohio.
Not only are too many Americans with power developing incredibly hard heads; it’s now gone to their hearts, too. We need a lot more military -- and other -- warriors like Borell to knock those small hard heads and small hard hearts onto their big soft fat butts.
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