Thursday, June 21, 2007

My Thoughts

Yesterday, I blogged about a wonderful humanitarian rescue that men of the 82nd Airborne Division accomplished when discovering an Iraqi orphanage which had neglected the children till they were near death.

Personally, I had watched the video on a news channel and was very moved over their actions. Then when going through the web, I discovered that no one was discussing it as much as it should have been.

Imagine my surprise yesterday evening when I began hearing negativity over the job these men had done. People were now saying that the neglect was as much to blame on the soldiers as it was the Iraqi's, perhaps even more so.

Okay people, naysayers, peace movement, news services and bleeding hearts of American, enough is enough!

Go into any big city and walk into a police station, ask the duty officer how many abuse cases were handled that month, even more so, pick up any newspaper, read any news service, abuse is wide spread and goes on within the sleepy towns of our nation. Some of these towns may only have the resources for a two or more man police department and these police know every person in the town, yet abuse occurs.

I know this to be a fact as I was a big city police officer and when we discovered abuse, it sickened me, infuriated me and at times moved me to tears, but we never even suspected it was taking place. You will ask why and the answer is we cannot go into every house in the city, just as our men in uniform cannot. Police often rely on the good will and caring of concerned citizens to report incidents of abuse, even the small ones.

The fact that the men of the 82nd Airborne discovered this abuse and neglect was not police work, but karma, pure luck, if you will. A soldier looked over a wall and into the face of hell when he saw the children laying there. The neighbors never complained and do not think they did not know it was going on.

These men found a bad situation and they saved the lives of the children. America should be proud of their men in uniform for an act of kindness, not say they should have known. This makes me sick to discuss it any further.