| Soldier Helps Iraqi Girl with Congenital Heart Condition |
| Tuesday, 28 October 2008 | |
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FOB KALSU — Rawan, a 5-year-old Iraqi girl, bounced on the couch and clapped her tiny hands, evoking laughter from those watching her. |
From the color of her blue lips, she looked as though she might have savored one grape-flavored lollipop too many. She sang as she bounced, but her voice came out as wisps of air, as if she were playing a joke on her grandparents to force them to listen closely. Her skin is pale compared to the rich skin color of her grandfather and grandmother, who visited with U.S. Soldiers here to talk about her condition.
Rawan has a congenital heart disease, an extreme condition that affects her pulmonary arteries and lungs, causing her to talk in soft rasps, limiting oxygen to her skin and causing the blue tint of her lips.
Her family brought Rawan to the civil-military operations center in hopes of receiving help. Soldiers with the 415th Civil Affairs Company and the 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, have been working with Rawan’s family since June, when the mayor of Jabella approached one of their officers about her condition.
“They’re showing everybody they are really great people who really care about humans; doesn’t matter if Iraqis or Americans,” Rawan’s grandfather, Ali Isa Amran, said of the Soldiers. “They do care about Iraqi [children] right here, and that’s showing a really good picture of America to all of the world.”
Army Spc. Michael Kim has spearheaded the effort to find good medical care and raise money for an operation Rawan needs.
“I feel that in America we try to help the poor, and I think that just because I’m here in Iraq, it shouldn’t stop me from being an American citizen and doing my duty to serve,” said Kim, a native of New York City’s Manhattan borough. “Not just as a Soldier, but as a citizen helping people, because back home I used to send people to the homeless shelters. I used to refer them to food pantries.”
Kim said his drive to serve the people of Iraq comes from his faith and religious studies. He studied philosophy and religious psychology at Yale University, and carries those teachings with him wherever he goes.
Kim is a former Marine reservist and works as a combat trauma specialist and psychoanalyst for a Veterans Affairs hospital in New York City.
It had been 16 years since Kim had last put on a uniform as a servicemember before he deployed to Iraq. He decided to return to the military for a one-year commitment and volunteered for a deployment with the Army. He wanted to serve in a civil capacity, and meeting Rawan gave him exactly that opportunity.
Kim sought the help of fellow Soldiers and groups back home to raise money for Rawan’s surgery. He spoke with Iraqi doctors at the National Iraqi Assistance Center in Baghdad to seek their help evaluating Rawan. He helped link Rawan with the Ibn al-Bitar Hospital in Baghdad to have her receive an echocardiogram to scan her heart.
He then contacted medical institutions and hospitals throughout the United States to look at Rawan’s echo screening, which unfortunately revealed how severe her condition truly was.
“Rawan’s cardiac condition has limited her quality of life, and she’s often tired,” Kim said. “Her heart defect has also affected her lungs, so she has trouble breathing. Because of all of this, it’s been a challenge to find help.”
A group in the United States known as ‘Team Rawan’ has been able to raise $1,500 and plan on raising more. More friends in Daytona, Fla., held a party to raise awareness and money.
Babylon University in Hillah, Iraq, also has offered to help, providing cardiac tomography imaging. For the operation, Kim is looking at options in India, where doctors are treating children from developing countries and leading the way in progressive medicine, he said.
Kim admitted he’s faced doubt in trying to find a solution for Rawan. It is only because of the support he has received from people around the world that he has found the strength to keep going, he said.
“Luckily, I’ve got Soldiers and concerned Americans and others and Iraqis who are very supportive,” he said. “Every morning I wake up and say, ‘I got people working with me, so everything’s OK.’”
(By Army Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret, 3rd Infantry Division)
Feature Stories
| Reconstruction Improves Life in Iraqi City |
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CAMP TAJI — When students in Tarmiyah returned to school in September, they were welcomed by new classrooms full of new furniture and supplies. Their school, northwest of Baghdad, also had new electrical and sewer systems. After conducting a final assessment of improvements made to the Huda Teacher’s School on Oct. 20, Army 1st Lt. Erik Peterson, a native of Littleton Colo., who serves in Multi-National Division - Baghdad with the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, met with the contractor, paid him the remaining funds for completion of his work and thanked him for a job well done. |
| Camp Ur Graduates New Iraqi Officers, Enlisted Troops |
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COB ADDER — The Iraqi Army’s Regional Training Center at Camp Ur, near Contingency Operating Base Adder in southern Iraq, produced enough troops to fill a battalion during the Basic Enlisted Training and Officer Course graduations, Oct. 15. The two courses produced nearly 800 new Iraqi Soldiers, of which the majority were enlisted. The training center also produced its first class of officers. |
| Corps of Engineers Helps Guide Iraq Infrastructure Progress |
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KIRKUK — Engineers with the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are teaching and mentoring their Iraqi counterparts on every aspect of reconstruction project development, preparing them to continue building and managing Iraq’s infrastructure after the Coalition leaves. Army Lt. Col. Jack Hourguettes is an Army engineer assigned to the Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) -- a joint effort to integrate infrastructure projects in the province, training, coaching, advising, increasing engineering expertise and improving decision-making while balancing political and engineering requirements. |
| Interactive Iraq :: Video News | |||||||||
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• This edition features a story on the release of detainees and housing some of Iraq's dangerous insurgents.Patriot
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Iraqi and Coalition Sustainers partner in first-ever logistics training exercise |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 |
ISOF captures 7 suspected terrorists in separate operations BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Special Operations Forces capture seven suspected terrorists in separate operations in Ninawa and Diyala provinces Oct. 24-25. In an operation on Oct. 25 in al Qadussya, Mosul, ISOF arrested three suspected Islamic State of Iraq members on a local warrant. One of the individuals is said to be a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device cell leader and financier who facilitates the storage and placement of IEDs in the eastern part of Mosul. The cell is known for emplacing IEDs directed against the Iraqi Police and Army. In a separate operation on Oct. 25 in Kan’an, approximately 32 km northwest of Baqubah, ISOF captured two suspected members of an al Qaeda in Iraq cell believed to be responsible for attacks on IP, IA and Sons of Iraq. On Oct. 24 in Mosul, ISOF captured two al-Qaeda in Iraq suspects. One of the men is believed to be part of a cell that operates in the Bulayj area emplacing IEDs and conducting attacks on IA. The other individual is said to be a member of a cell responsible for multiple attacks against Coalition forces and reportedly killed at least 20 IP. |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 |
MND-B Soldiers detain SG criminal in Aamel BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained a reputed Special Groups criminal Oct. 27 in the Rashid district of southern Baghdad. Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained the Special Groups operative at approximately 1:30 a.m. during a target raid in the Rashid district’s Hayy Aamel community. The patrol returned to a combat outpost with the suspect, who was wanted for indirect fire and roadside bomb attacks. “The Raider Brigade and its attached units operating in southern Baghdad will continue to root out the thugs and criminals, who are acting against the will of the Iraqi people and violating the Iraq’s Rule of Law,” said Maj. Dave Olson, 1st BCT spokesman. “Al Rashid is not a safe haven for those who choose to impose violent and criminal activities against the citizens of Iraq.” |
The Smile Train
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Zafaraniyah residents celebrate school opening |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Camp Ur graduates new officers, enlisted troops |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | U.S. Military Police Soldier honored at IP academy |
Down Low
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Coalition detainee population falls to 16,900 |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 |
5 attackers killed after SAF attack BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed five criminals after a small arms fire attack in Baghdad’s New Baghdad security district,Oct. 27. At about 1:20 a.m., Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers were attacked with small-arms fire at a joint security station. The Soldiers were able to identify those responsible for the attack and returned fire. A total of five attackers were killed with no U.S. casualties. “Coalition Soldiers will continue to use deadly force to defend themselves when attacked by militants and extremists,” said Maj. Joey Sullinger, spokesperson for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. “Attacks on Coalition forces, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi civilians will not be tolerated.” |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | 2 Iraqis killed, 6 injured in blast |
Doors Opening
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Tip leads IA to weapons cache in greater Baghdad area |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Muhallahbiyah School for Girls undergoes major renovations |
| Monday, 27 October 2008 | Coalition forces target AQI networks; four terrorists killed, seven detained |
BAGHDAD – Four terrorists were killed and seven suspects were detained during Coalition force operations targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist networks throughout the country Sunday night and Monday.
Coalition forces captured a wanted man Sunday who intelligence reports suggest is connected to an AQI car bomb and improvised explosive device network. It is assessed that the suspected terrorist was actively planning attacks against Coalition forces in the region.
Monday near Tikrit, about 160 km north of Baghdad, Coalition forces targeted a wanted man believed to facilitate suicide vest and IED operations in the Tigris River Valley. Upon arriving at the target location, ground forces surrounded the building and called for its occupants to surrender. Soon after, they were fired upon by a man running from the house. Coalition forces, acting in self defense, engaged the armed terrorist, killing him. Another terrorist then began firing at the team. They returned fire and killed the man. Coalition forces killed a third individual inside the building when he picked up a rifle from one of the dead terrorists and engaged the forces.
Two suspects were detained. A third suspect was injured during the operation, and was treated by Coalition forces on scene before being taken to a nearby base for additional care. One of the dead terrorists was later identified as the wanted man.
In Mosul Monday, one terrorist was killed during an operation targeting a regional AQI leader. Upon arriving at the target location, Coalition forces entered a building assessed by intelligence reports to be an AQI hideout. An armed man engaged forces with a pistol as they entered the building. Coalition forces, perceiving hostile intent, engaged the man, killing him. The dead terrorist was identified as the wanted man.
Forces operating in Baghdad Monday captured a wanted man assessed to be an AQI courier with connections to local leadership. One additional suspect was detained for further questioning.
Another operation in Baghdad Monday targeted a suspected foreign terrorist believed to be a high-ranking member of an extremist group associated with AQI. One man, who allegedly has connections with the wanted man, was detained. Additionally, ground forces found a truck laden with explosive material on the scene. The area was secured and an explosive ordnance disposal team was dispatched to safely dispose of the materials.
Stumble It!
