Good News from Iraq

The round-up, from WSJ, by Australian blogger Arthur Chrenkoff.

Some highlights:

A lot of assistance depends on generous contributions from back home. One American servicewoman from Texas is reporting to her hometown about the success of a school supply action:

Army 1st Lt. Brittany Meeks, who called on the city last May to help reconstruct Iraq's educational institutions, is now offering a personal thank you to Katy. Earlier this year, in a letter addressed to the Katy Times, but written to the Katy community, Meeks asked the city to help her platoon combat poverty in Iraqi schools through a school supply drive she dubbed, "Operation School Hope."

In a recent letter updating the community on the drives' progress since April, Meeks said Katy residents, along with other Americans, have donated over 1.5 tons of school supplies and a half a ton of toys, sports equipment and candy for Al Tawa'an Primary School in Western Baghdad.

Meanwhile, another American serviceman is staring an action to provide Iraqi doctors with valuable learning resources:

Fifty boxes of medical books and journals will be sent to Iraq this week in a humanitarian effort that grew out of one soldier's concern that doctors in that war-torn country have inadequate reference material.

U.S. Army Lt. Isaac Shields, a former University of Tulsa student who is a liaison between Iraqi hospitals and the Army, said medical libraries in the country's hospitals and clinics did not have more than a dozen books each.

In July, he sent an e-mail about his concern to his former teacher, Joanne Davis, a Tulsa assistant professor of psychology. . . . "As soon as I got the message, I was like: 'OK, let's go. What do we do?' " Davis said. She started calling psychologists and doctors she knew to ask for donations. When students returned for the fall semester, she recruited about 10 to ask other colleges, libraries, hospitals and publishing houses for more materials published within the past decade. They also collected money to pay for shipping.

There is plenty of scope for creating good will and building relationships with the locals. For example, to help celebrate the end of Ramadan, "the 209th Iraqi National Guard and the 30th Brigade Combat Team donated shoes, food and money to the city councils of Tuz and Sulayman Bak, which in turn was distributed to poor families. . . . At the same time, the Iraq Department of Border Enforcement and the 30th BCT delivered Ramadan gifts to the poorest families in 14 villages, which included Baba Kurz Ad Din, Al Hizam, Alasafa, and Fajjim Villages."


It's a long list - goes on and on - and makes you feel very proud of our armed forces. It futher shows any thinking human being to realize what is at stake and what Americans are willing to do for people we don't even know thousands of miles away.