Although this has a happy ending, as you can see, war is not just the
capturing of someone who may or may not have been a threat to us. We
have, because of our war mongering, put this little boy through
nothing short of pure hell. If this story doesn't sadden you, then you
are no better than Saddam himself:

Saleh Khalaf, the 9-year-old Iraqi boy gravely wounded in a blast on
his Nasiriya schoolyard, walked out of Children's Hospital Oakland on
Tuesday to the high-fives of surgeons who six weeks ago worried
whether he would survive.

On his way to the main lobby for his media debut, Saleh asked his
father, Raheem Khalaf, to brush his hair. Decked out in a red
Quicksilver T-shirt and mirrored sunglasses, he wanted to look good
for the cameras.

He also wanted to cover up his left eye, which was destroyed in
October when he picked up an explosive that he thought was a toy ball.
Saleh has become shy about his appearance, his father said.

Saleh also lost his right hand, and all but a thumb and a partial
digit on his left -- injuries that will take several more months of
reconstructive work to repair. In the meantime, Saleh and his father
will live around the corner in the hospital's Family House.

His most dangerous injury was to his abdomen, which was torn open by
the blast, exposing his intestines. His older brother, Diya, 16, died
in the explosion, the origins of which are unknown.

At the insistence of his father, Saleh was transferred from the
war-torn and understaffed Saddam Hussein Hospital after two weeks to
the trauma unit on the U.S. air base.

There, Dr. Jay Johannigman and a team began reconstructive work on
Saleh's hands and closed his abdomen. When the boy surprised everyone
by surviving dozens of life-threatening surgeries, Air Force doctors
began contacting their American medical friends looking for a way to
give Saleh the long-term care he wouldn't be able to receive in Iraq.

Children's Hospital Oakland accepted the unusual request, and on Nov.
10, Saleh was flown in a military plane to California.

'Amazing' boy

"Saleh is an amazing young man," said Dr. James Betts, the hospital's
chief of surgery. "He was in such critical condition when he arrived,
we expected his recovery would take a lot longer."

Saleh was so severely emaciated that he needed calories and
antibiotics before his body could undergo any surgeries. Betts and a
team grafted skin from Saleh's thigh to close his abdominal wound.

During his hospital stay, Saleh's story touched the community. Well-
wishers sent presents and visited daily, and local Arabs brought food
and invited Raheem to mosques for prayer.

His nurses and therapists gathered around him Tuesday, clapping and
singing a goodbye song: "Goodbye Saleh, goodbye Saleh, we're sad to
see you go! "

After he left the hospital, Saleh moved into the nearby apartment the
hospital is providing in its Family House for Raheem.

Saleh will need several more months of physical therapy and cosmetic
surgery before he's ready to return to Iraq, Betts said.

He needs a new left eyelid and a prosthetic eye. Dr. Robert Haining
will outfit Saleh with a prosthetic hook on his right hand.

"We have to give him the most basic prosthetic because he's going to
be in a country where those kinds of things are hard to come by and
hard to maintain," Haining said.

Shouting for joy

Saleh said he is so happy to be getting out of the hospital that he
would give a high-pitched yell, the kind Iraqi women shriek at
weddings, to celebrate.

"I love my mom and the only thing I want when I leave is to hear her
voice," he said.

Raheem is overjoyed that his son is thriving. He thanked the American
doctors many times, and hugged all of Saleh's therapists, nurses and
surgeons.

"I talked to my family in Iraq yesterday to let them know Saleh is out
of the hospital," Raheem said. "They can't wait to see him."

On 24 Dec 2003 08:25:50 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

Although this has a happy ending, as you can see, war is not just the
capturing of someone who may or may not have been a threat to us. We
have, because of our war mongering, put this little boy through
nothing short of pure hell. If this story doesn't sadden you, then you
are no better than Saddam himself:

Snipped

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"John H" wrote in message
...

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.


John H

Perhaps he's reacting to tripe like NOYB, who keeps repeating that we ought
to bomb Syria, Jordan, etc etc etc just as soon as the president's boys feel
like it.

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:31:21 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"John H" wrote in message
.. .

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.

Perhaps he's reacting to tripe like NOYB, who keeps repeating that we ought
to bomb Syria, Jordan, etc etc etc just as soon as the president's boys feel
like it.

Wait a second... Harry said that also. Now he's a conservative?

Steve

"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:31:21 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"John H" wrote in message
.. .

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.

Perhaps he's reacting to tripe like NOYB, who keeps repeating that we
ought
to bomb Syria, Jordan, etc etc etc just as soon as the president's boys
feel
like it.

Wait a second... Harry said that also. Now he's a conservative?

Steve

I suspect that if you see Harry say this, he's being exquisitely sarcastic.
NOYB, however, isn't kidding at all. Of course, that'll change the moment
one of his kids is old enough to join the military.

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 06:22:32 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 15:31:21 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"John H" wrote in message
.. .

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.

Perhaps he's reacting to tripe like NOYB, who keeps repeating that we
ought
to bomb Syria, Jordan, etc etc etc just as soon as the president's boys
feel
like it.

Wait a second... Harry said that also. Now he's a conservative?

Steve

I suspect that if you see Harry say this, he's being exquisitely sarcastic.
NOYB, however, isn't kidding at all. Of course, that'll change the moment
one of his kids is old enough to join the military.

Actually it was the other way. Harry was not being sarcastic. NOYB
probably was.

Steve

John H wrote in message . ..
On 24 Dec 2003 08:25:50 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

Although this has a happy ending, as you can see, war is not just the
capturing of someone who may or may not have been a threat to us. We
have, because of our war mongering, put this little boy through
nothing short of pure hell. If this story doesn't sadden you, then you
are no better than Saddam himself:

Snipped

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

That's quite easy to to answer. You conservatives don't mind starting
a war, with no real premise, right? Well, I guess except for the
cardboard drones!! You think Bush is correct for the pre-emptive
strike of a poor nation that we had no reason to be in, right? You
righties are talking about which country we need to go blow the hell
out of next, right? It would seem to me that if you thought war was
bad, then you'd not want is in one....or more, especially when there
has been no real evidence that we needed to go there.

basskisser wrote:

John H wrote in message . ..
On 24 Dec 2003 08:25:50 -0800, (basskisser) wrote:

Although this has a happy ending, as you can see, war is not just the
capturing of someone who may or may not have been a threat to us. We
have, because of our war mongering, put this little boy through
nothing short of pure hell. If this story doesn't sadden you, then you
are no better than Saddam himself:

Snipped

Bass, where did any Conservative say that war is grand? Did someone
honestly say that, or was that comment simply to attract attention?
You could attract attention with a current story just as easily. My
son-in-law lost one of his best friends on Christmas eve in Baghdad.
Do you think that makes me feel 'war is grand'?

Hope you had a good Christmas. I hope your search for the worst you
could find didn't affect your day.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

That's quite easy to to answer. You conservatives don't mind starting
a war, with no real premise, right? Well, I guess except for the
cardboard drones!! You think Bush is correct for the pre-emptive
strike of a poor nation that we had no reason to be in, right? You
righties are talking about which country we need to go blow the hell
out of next, right? It would seem to me that if you thought war was
bad, then you'd not want is in one....or more, especially when there
has been no real evidence that we needed to go there.



The threat of war kept people like John Herring in uniform long enough
to secure a retirement. It is in their interest to war monger.



--
Email sent to is never read.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...


The threat of war kept people like John Herring in uniform long enough
to secure a retirement. It is in their interest to war monger.


Harry, it's 40 degrees here in Rochester. It's gotta be even warmer in your
neck of the woods. Turn off the computer. Get outside.

Doug Kanter wrote:

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...


The threat of war kept people like John Herring in uniform long enough
to secure a retirement. It is in their interest to war monger.


Harry, it's 40 degrees here in Rochester. It's gotta be even warmer in your
neck of the woods. Turn off the computer. Get outside.



It's 43F here. As soon as my bride rolls out of bed and out of the
shower, we're (I'm told) heading out to the malls for another day of
adventure, package-toting and being trampled by out-of-control women.

I got up at my usual 6 am, and spent the morning doing entirely useful
chores, such as emptying and filling the DW, cleaning off the glass and
pieces and parts of the gas cooktop, feeding and watering the critters,
wrestling with Bob, the family bobcat, and watching the geese fly overhead.

Today, I hope, we're heading to the mall where the LL Bean store is
located, since I need a coat. There are three stores in that entire mall
I'll go into: LL Bean, Apple Computer Store, and Restoration Hardware.
Oh...and Harry & David's. And there must be 200 stores in that mall. And
one really good pizza place.

--
Email sent to is never read.