Baby Noor

From ajc.com today -

Born three months ago with Spina Bifida, Noor has a large growth on her back where her spinal cord did not properly close. She requires immediate surgery to correct the problem.
Iraqi doctors told the family they could do nothing for the baby and that she did not have long to survive. Charlie Company soldiers found the baby during a search of the family home in the slums of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad.
They were determined to help save the life of the frail child.


From CNN today -


Noor's journey began when Georgia National Guard members raided her family's home in Baghdad looking for weapons. As Noor's parents nervously watched the soldiers searching their home, the girl's grandmother -- unfazed -- thrust Noor at the Americans, showing them a purple pouch protruding from her back. (Watch Noor steal the guardsmen's hearts -- 2:11)
"I saw this child as the first-born child of the young mother and father, and really, all I could think of was my five children back at home and my young daughter," Lt. Jeff Morgan said. "And I knew if I had the opportunity whatsoever to save my daughter's life, I would do everything possible."
So the guardsmen began devising a plan to get Noor the help she needs, first by visiting the family under the cover of night so the family wouldn't be punished by insurgents for speaking to American soldiers.
They sneaked Noor to a U.S. military base for medical examinations and called American charities and their own friends back home to solicit help for the little girl. Even Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, got involved, working to expedite the family's visas.

For both complete news articles go to CNN.com and ajc.com

I see stuff like this all the time at work, and on tv, and it always fascinates me. But it was reading about how the grandmother gave the baby to the soldiers that got me. I have to recognize and celebrate the amazing things as well as express and embrace the dark ones. She was very brave. And its the cutest baby ever. And no matter how you feel about the war or the reason or politics behind everything, those soldiers did a good thing and were also very brave.

I'm learning that bravery doesn't mean that you are not scared, it means you do the right thing in the face of obsticles.