Wednesday, April 09, 2003

Ali's plea prompts huge response

I woke up to much partying in Baghdad. Statues being torn down, celebrating, well deserved looting.

And that's great. It was a hell of a fight, we won.

But I can't be very happy about this just now.

You see, we blew the arms off a 12 year old boy in a bombing that killed his entire family. He lost his pregnant mother, father, brother and seven other members of his family.


"Can you help get my arms back? Do you think the doctors can get me another pair of hands?" Ali, who wanted to become a doctor, had asked from Baghdad's Kindi Hospital.

"If I don't get a pair of hands, I will commit suicide," he told a Reuters reporter.

Suggestions have been made that Ali could be sent to the UK or U.S. for treatment where reports say replacement arms could cost up to $30,000. Ali would also need further treatment as he grows older and his body develops.

Meanwhile the Italian newspaper Il Giornale is starting a campaign to bring Ali to the Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute in Milan. "Let's adopt Ali, because Ali is alone," the newspaper said Wednesday.


You go ahead, adopt this little boy if it makes you feel better. He IS all alone, JUST LIKE 100'S AND 100'S OF OTHERS!

They want to single him out for treatment and that's great. There are 100's and 100's of Ali's.

WHAT ABOUT THEM???

So while you're celebrating and patting each other on the backs for a job well done, remember the cost.

While you are sending Ali your dollars or prayers or good thoughts or whatever (and feeling pretty good about yourselves), try to block out the fact that there are literally 100's of the limbless orphans now.

America is famous for latching onto individuals, helping one while 1000's die. I guess it helps them sleep at night.

Ali is becoming the posterchild for all the children we've made limbless and orphaned.

What will America do for them? We will forget them just like we have all the rest. We have a LONG history of forgetting the children we cripple.

But Ali will get the best treatment, IF he even lives, which at this point is a pretty big "if".

And America will go back to sleep, just like we always have.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to throw cold water on the celebration.

It was a huge victory and many of our boys died in the process.

Why aren't I happier?

Kansas @ 12:30 PM