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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (102567)	2/28/2005 8:00:27 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793838

The Heart of America - Conclusion: Tim Chavez's New Column By Blackfive on Military Received many emails from you all about the Marine Convoy that was saved by the Iraqi girl with the Beanie Baby...many of you wanted to know who (which journalist) received the info for the story. Quite a few journalists wanted the story and only one got it. Only one had the patience and the professionalism to keep waiting for clearance from the Marine Sergeant. Tim Chavez at the Daily Tennessean is the journalist that I trust, and he has a column about it. It's a must read. Sunday, 02/27/05 Marine reached out to child, and she saved lives The little Iraqi girl would not move from the road where she sat. She kept clutching the white Beanie Baby bear she had received only weeks earlier from a U.S. Marine. Now, a Marine convoy approached. Here's how Gunnery Sgt. Mark Francis of the II Marine Expeditionary Force described what happened next: ''Our lead security vehicle stopped in the middle of the street. This is not normal and is very unsafe, so the following vehicles began to inquire over the radio. The lead vehicle reported a little girl sitting in the road and said she just would not budge. ''The command vehicle told the lead to simply go around her and to be kind as they did. The street was wide enough to allow this maneuver and so they waved to her as they drove around. ''As the vehicles went around her, one of the Marines soon saw her sitting there, and in her arms she was clutching a little bear that he had handed her a few patrols back. Feeling an immediate connection to the girl, he then radioed that the convoy was going to stop. ''The rest of the convoy paused as he got out to make sure she was OK. The little girl looked scared and concerned, but there was a warmth in her eyes toward him. As he knelt down to talk to her, she moved over and pointed to a mine in the road. ''Immediately a cordon was set as the Marine convoy assumed a defensive posture around the site. ''The mine was destroyed in place.'' Sgt. Francis received that incredible report from a patrol because it was his efforts that brought the Beanie Baby bear and other toys to Iraq. He had asked his church, his brother's mother-in-law and his wife to mail toys for the Iraqi kids. ''On each patrol we take through the city, we take as many toys as will fit in our pockets and hand them out as we can,'' Sgt. Francis writes. ''The kids take the toys and run to show them off as if they were worth a million bucks. We are as friendly as we can be to everyone we see but especially so with the kids. Most of them don't have any idea what is going on and are completely innocent in all of this.'' Sgt. Francis asked various units to report back on their giving. He wanted to include some of the stories with ''thank you'' notes sent home. It was a report from one patrol that had the story about the little Iraqi girl and the Beanie Baby bear. I've been tracking this story since before Christmas. It took the help of the Web site blackfive.net to find the people behind the story and needed confirmation. The story is miraculous — first in the heroics of a little Iraqi girl and second in a Marine, who put himself at risk for her. And it was only in reaching out to her that the lives of his fellow Marines were saved. Officially, the Marines — through Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, II MEF spokesman — have this to say: ''This type of story is representative of the positive effect our forces are having with the Iraqi people, and it is heartening to see such stories reach the American people so they know what good work their Marines are doing.'' For the rest of us, telling this story is our way of supporting our men and women in uniform and making sure Iraq does not become another Vietnam. You hear the Vietnam analogy most frequently from critics of the war, ridiculously cited by Sen. Ted Kennedy just days before the historic Iraqi elections. And you hear it from people in the news media. They want to prosecute this war like Walter Cronkite and others did with Vietnam. So they paint things in Iraq with gloom and doom. But a lot of us — like the Web site blackfive.net — are committed to telling the rest of the story about Iraq and the amazing good our men and women are doing. Those stories were lost in Vietnam. And opportunists such as John Kerry returned home to paint our sons as butchers. The stories of good in Iraq will not be lost. And our heroes from this war — little Iraqi girls who sit in the road to warn a convoy of danger and Marines who hand out toys to show the power of kindness — will be celebrated, not castigated. The reasons that put us over there don't matter much now. The Civil War did not begin to free the slaves. But it did, and that's the good it is remembered for. The Iraq war did not begin simply to free the Iraqi people. But now they are, and the fire of freedom and democracy is burning across the Middle East. Sgt. Francis' tour in Iraq is ending. But he handed over the toy campaign to another Marine. If you'd like to support it, give me a call or drop me an e-mail. As for the story of the Iraqi girl, Sgt. Francis says it proves that ''love is more powerful than hate.'' America is not perfect, but it remains a beacon of hope to the world. On an Iraqi road where terrorists planted their hate to kill, a little girl remembered America's kindness and responded with love to save lives. May she and her heroics serve as a reminder that good is more powerful than evil and proof that our men and women in Iraq will be remembered most for the kindness and compassion they brought to their mission. Tim Chavez is a columnist for The Tennessean. Contact him at tchavez@tennessean.com or (615) 771-5428. © Copyright 2005 The Tennessean