Pirate's Cove

You won't see this in the MSM. Can't have them showing our troops as the good guys, eh?

However, this is a bit of a tear jerker (from CENTCOM)

CAMP AL QA'IM — For a 12-year-old Iraqi girl in need of a kidney and liver transplant, time is the enemy. Her friends are a team of U.S. Marines and Sailors who have applied their medical skills to help the keep the girl alive.

Hadael Hamade is in desperate need of surgery, say U.S. Navy physicians who have treated her in recent months.

The girl first befriended Marines from 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, months ago when the Marines were on patrol in Karabilah – a city of about 30,000 near the Iraq-Syria border.

"When we first saw Hadael several months ago, she was walking," said Navy Lt. Mark D. Rasmussen, an anesthesiologist with the surgical suite here. "Now she can’t move much. The Marines needed to carry her from her house to the Humvee, and from the Humvee to the surgical suite here."

I'm sure the Navy and Marine personnel will just say they are doing their jobs, but what they do is truly heroic. And ignored by the media.

Here's where it gets even sadder:

Hadael’s father, Ahmed, a 46-year-old school teacher, sought the aid of Marines and Sailors, stating that doctors in his country cannot help his daughter.

After losing four children to kidney disease, he’s not ready to let Hadael suffer the same fate as her brothers and sisters, he said.

Hamade’s case has recently garnered attention in the U.S. after several non-profit organizations and a congressman from California learned of her situation. It was first brought to their attention upon the death of a Marine killed near Karabilah, who just days before had vowed to help the girl by bringing her to the attention of his chain-of-command.

Lance Cpl. Aaron W. Simons, a Marine rifleman, met the dying Hadael during a midnight security patrol through the city, according to her father.

Kudo's to Cpl Simons, God Rest His Soul.

Hamade's siblings lost their lives, according to her father, because there was no medical treatment available in Iraq for them. Now there is. Now, the Coalition forces and the emerging Iraqi democracy will make sure that 50,000 children will not die every year because of a lack of medical treatment.

But, don't tell the Left that they despise the troops (from Michelle M)

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