[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 88 (Monday, June 16, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H5383-H5386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GIs FRUSTRATED BY LACK OF RESPONSE TO MEDICAL NEED IN IRAQ
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Franks of Arizona). Under a previous
order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is
recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this weekend in our local newspaper and
across this country, a major story appeared with a photo that is
unforgettable, a photo of Sergeant David Borell and Sergeant First
Class Bryan Pacholski, both deployed outside of Baghdad, both members
of the 323rd Military Police Company based in Toledo, Ohio, the center
of my district. The title of the article is ``Children's Suffering
Wounds GIs; Toledo Soldier Frustrated by Lack of Response to Medical
Need.'' I am going to include this article, the full article, in the
Record tonight along with Sergeant Borell's comments; also a letter I
am sending to Secretary Rumsfeld this evening asking that based on
these reports out of Iraq, I am requesting a personal meeting with the
Secretary to propose an expedited schedule by the United States to
establish temporary field hospitals in Iraq, perhaps in concert with
our Arab allies, serving the wounded and the suffering.
With Baghdad's early fall, sufficient funds have been appropriated by
our Appropriations Committee to accommodate these facilities. We can
work with other organizations around the world, but without question
the United States is in the lead now. It is important that we rise to
this moral imperative. It is our sacred obligation to do so.
Let me report what Sergeant David Borell says, who, by the way,
should get a promotion by the Department of Defense for his honor. He
works close to a sign that reads: ``Working Together With the Iraqi
People for Peace and Prosperity.'' That sign is placed near the North
Gate to Sustainer Army Airfield northwest of Baghdad. He says, ``The
implications of those words, 'Working Together With the Iraqi People
for Peace and Prosperity,' it would seem, are far-reaching. Perhaps
even all-encompassing. To me, it would seem to say that we, the
Americans, are here to help. Help restore the Iraqi economy, help
restore law and order, help the Iraqi people build anew that which has
been taken from them. And, surely, help them in their times of dire
need. Help them when there are truly none others for them to turn to.''
The photo says it all: ``Sergeant First Class Bryan Pacholski
comforts Sergeant David Borell, both from Toledo.'' Why is he
comforting Sergeant Borell? And it says, Sergeant Borell ``saw
something that flies in the face of every moral lesson I have ever
learned from my leadership in the military.'' He says, ``I used to be
proud of what I'm doing and of being an American soldier, but after
today I wonder if I will still be able to carry the title soldier with
any pride at all. Or simply with the knowledge that a soldier couldn't
even help three small severely burned children.'' He says, ``We came
here to depose Saddam Hussein, a mission we accomplished. But the
second mission was one of greater importance and purpose, to be part of
a force that would serve to provide the Iraqi people with a freedom
that they have never known.'' It seemed to him to be the noblest
mission of all. In almost 14 years
[[Page H5384]]
of military service, the Army taught him many things, duty, honor,
obligation; and though he was also taught to be a warrior, at the same
time he thought he was taught to be a humanitarian. But he saw
something during his service in the last week which caused him to
question all of that.
While working at that North Gate, he was approached by an Iraqi
father in need of assistance who took him to the back of his car where
his wife and three children waited with a patience which could only
have been borne out of a life of adversity. Once there, the father
showed him his first son. He was a boy of 10 or 11 years of age. His
eyes were a deep shade of brown, and he stared at the sergeant without
tears. His mother held him in her arms and gently fanned him with a
piece of cardboard both for comfort and to keep flies off of him.
Across his body were wounds of unimaginable origin. Most of his legs
and arms were singed clean of the top layers of flesh. His face was
contorted with the same manner of burns. The sergeant says, ``I can
only imagine the intensity of the pain he was in. He said nothing to
me, but his eyes pleaded with me nonetheless. He was in need of help,
the very help I was trained to offer.''
And so the sergeant called the doctors in the field and it took them
an hour to arrive. In the front seat of this same car were his two
sisters equally burned, one around 5 years old and the older 8 or 9.
One blister on her right hand was the size of a baseball. Like their
brother, they did not even complain. They made no sound at all. And the
chain of command decided they deserved no treatment, and they turned
them away.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to end my remarks tonight and read the last
two sentences that say, ``The Army failed three young children in Iraq
today for no reason. After today, I wonder if I will still be able to
carry the title soldier with any pride at all, because this soldier
couldn't even help three small children.''
Secretary Rumsfeld, we need your help. We need field hospitals in
Iraq now.
Sirs: The following incident occurred on 13 June 2003. Any
exposure you can create for this would be greatly
appreciated. Also there when this happened were
correspondents or representatives of FoxNews, the Associated
Press, the New York Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune,
and various foreign media.
working together with the iraqi people for peace and
prosperity.
That's what the sign reads at the North Gate to Sustainer
Army Airfield Northwest of Baghdad. The implications of those
words, it would seem, are far-reaching. Perhaps even all-
encompassing. To me, it would seem to say that we, the
Americans, are here to help. Help restore the Iraqi economy,
help restore law and order help the Iraqi people build anew
that which has been taken from the. And, surely, help them in
their times of dire need. Help them when there are truly none
others for them to turn to.
As a military force, we came to this country under two
pretenses. One, to rid the world of what has been termed a
dire and immediate threat to world peace. This threat was
embodied in Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party he led. We
accomplished, if not completely, then at least practically,
that goal. Saddam is no longer in a place of power here.
Instead, we created, hopefully, a foundation for the Iraqi
people to rule themselves. Our second pretense was much more
enigmatic. We came to give the Iraqi people peace and freedom
such as many Americans have known all their lives. This
second mission was, to me, one of greater import and purpose.
I came to be a part of that force that would serve to provide
the Iraqi people with a freedom that they have never known.
It seemed to me a noble mission at the least.
In almost 14 years of military service, the Army has taught
me many things. Most of what I believe about duty, honor and
obligation has come from those things I learned as a young
soldier. I was taught to be a warrior and an unstoppable,
indefatigable combat power, but, at the same time, to be a
humanitarian. To give any assistance I could possibly provide
to those people who were innocent of hostilities or even
those who were not but who no longer represented a threat to
U.S. forces. I learned that the American military was meant
to be much more than a combat force. That we are a
peacekeeping force, trained and equipped not only for the
perils of combat, but also, and sometimes above all else to
help. To build instead of destroy. I came to Iraq as a
Military Policeman to rebuild and practice that which has
been so deeply ingrained in me throughout those years of
military service. And to be a part of that greater purpose I
believe we all seek.
But today, I saw something which caused me to question
exactly where the Army as an institution places it teachings.
I saw something that flies in the face of every moral lesson
I have ever learned from my leadership in the military.
Moreover, it flew in the face of simple human dignity and
obligation.
While working at that North Gate of Sustainer Army
Airfield, not far from the sign at the entrance, I was
approached by an Iraqi father in need of assistance. He took
me back to his car where his wife and three children waited
with a patience that could only have been born of a life of
adversity. Once there, he showed me first his son. He was a
boy of perhaps 10 or 11 years old. His eyes were a deep shade
of brown and stared at me without tears. His mother held him
in her arms and gently fanned his with a piece of cardboard
both for comfort and to keep flies off of him. Across his
body were wounds of unimaginable origin. Most of his legs and
arms were singed clean of the top layers of flesh. His face
was contorted with the same manner of burns. I can only
imagine the intensity of the pain he was in. He said nothing
to me, but his eyes pleaded with me nonetheless. He was in
need of help. The very help that I was trained to offer. In
fact, the very help I was taught, and fervently believe, it
is my duty to offer. He didn't ask much, or so I thought.
Only some relief from the pain that a boy his age should
never have to endure.
But the damage didn't end there. In the front seat were his
sisters. The youngest was around 5 years old and the older
one around 8 or 9. They too were covered in burns. The five
year old had hands covered with burns. The right half of her
face had also been burned. On her right hand was a blister
the size of a baseball. The eight year old suffered the same
agonizing injuries. Both her arms and hands and the left side
of her face were covered. Like their brother, they did not
cry nor even complain. They made no sound at all. One look
into their eyes, though, and no word of complaint was
necessary. No verbal communication could possibly have
conveyed the amount of pain or suffering they were going
through. But, looking into their eyes, I knew that they were
pleading with me to help. If not as an American soldier,
trained and equipped to do so, than as a fellow human. They
were asking me and they were asking America. I could not more
ignore this pleading than if it were to have come from my own
daughters. And it was my own daughters I saw when I looked at
these young girls.
Without hesitation, I made contact with the only people
available to me and requested assistance. My chain of command
contacted the base hospital and, after what seemed an
eternity to me but was more realistically probably only an
hour or so, assistance finally came in the form of two
Majors, both doctors, from the base hospital. But even an
hour of so seemed too long to me. Judging from the traffic on
the radio, there was apparently lengthy discussion as to
whether or not any assistance at all would be forthcoming.
But it did finally come, and I fully believed that these
children would receive at least some care. At minimum, a
token amount to relieve their suffering until something else
could be done. My beliefs, my faith in the Army were not to
be realized.
Both ``doctors'' looked briefly at the son. Perhaps a
minute. No probing, no questioning as to the extent of the
injuries. No discussion as to how they could help. And,
without so much as a cursory examination of the girls,
announced that there was nothing they could do. ``Long-term
care'' is what they said was needed. ``These wounds are not
life-threatening'' was emphatically pronounced. And, most
injuriously to my conscience, that we, as Americans, had not
caused the wounds and, thusly, would not treat them. I was
informed that the ``rules of engagement'' for the treatment
of local nationals was that the wounds had to threaten life,
limb or eyesight or had to have been caused by Americans. The
children were coarsely sent on their way with no treatment
administered. I was left with nothing to answer the pleading
of these children but to empty my first aid bag of anything
useful to give their father. And empty it I did, but to what
end? It wasn't enough and he and I both knew it.
What would it have cost us to treat these children? A few
dollars perhaps. Some investment of time and resources. But
are we not here for just that purpose? Did we not depose the
``evil regime''? Or did we just replace it with one of our
own making? I cannot imagine the heartlessness required to
look into the eyes of a child in horrid pain and suffering
and, with medical resources only a brief trip up the road,
ignore their plight as though they are insignificant. Only
Iraqis seeking that which they should be able to provide
themselves. ``We are not here to be the treatment center for
the country.'' These words were actually spoken to me by one
of the ``doctors''. But, if not us, then who? The local
``hospital'', if it can even be called that, had already
refused them treatment. There was no one else.
The last time I checked, prior to the arrival of American
and coalition forces, the Iraqi people had a government,
albeit an appalling one. And they had an infrastructure,
albeit a surely inadequate one. But, we, in our ``noble''
effort to give the Iraqi people freedom and secure peace for
the world, have taken what little they had away. They no
longer have any real form of government, and, lacking that,
no true infrastructure. So who is to provide these things
taken from them? By virtue of the morals and standards taught
me by the Army, we, as Americans, are. It is we who are here
to ``work together''. It is we who mean to give the Iraqis
[[Page H5385]]
``peace and prosperity.'' Apparently, working together does
not mean medical treatment for children who have done nothing
wrong and have nowhere else to turn.
I wear a silver bracelet on my arm. It was given to me by
my wife before I was deployed here. On one side is engraved
``Duty, Honor, Country'' and on the reverse is ``With Love,
Rachelle''. I wear it to remind me of why I'm here. Why I'm
so far from my wife and children, why I'm sacrificing my time
and my energy and placing myself at personal risk of injury
or death. ``Duty, Honor, Country'' is what I have been taught
for almost 14 years. But the Army failed 3 young children
today for no reason. And, in so doing, they betrayed those
values. I used to be proud of what I'm doing and of being an
American soldier. After today, I wonder if I will still be
able to carry the title ``soldier'' with any pride at all. Or
simply with the knowledge that a ``soldier'' couldn't even
help 3 small children.
David J. Borell,
Sergeant, US Army,
323rd Military Police Company,
Balad, Iraq,
North Gate Sustainer Army Airfield,
(Northwest of Baghdad)
____
[From the Toledo Blade, June 14, 2003]
Children's Suffering Wounds GIs
toledo soldier wants to help injured Iraqi children
(By Joe Mahr)
Ohio Army National Guard Sgt. David Borell peered into a
car outside his Iraqi base yesterday, and the Toledoan's
mission seemed obvious.
There sat three children with burns on their arms, legs,
and faces. One had layers of skin singed from his
extremities. Another had a baseball-sized welt on her hand.
The look in their eyes said one thing: Help.
The military police sergeant quickly radioed for medics,
but it took about an hour for doctors to arrive. Even then,
the doctors refused to help--saying the wounds weren't ``life
threatening.'' And the sergeant could think only of how he'd
react if it were his children back home suffering such pain.
After the doctors left, he broke down.
``I saw something that flies in the face of every moral
lesson I have ever learned from my leadership in the
military,'' he wrote in an e-mail sent to The Blade last
night.
The 30-year-old's frustration is not the only angst among
family, friends, and soldiers of Toledo's 323rd Military
Police Company, which has been deployed for 16 of the past 20
months.
They've spent the past two months in Kuwait and Iraq--most
of that time based on one of the hottest spots since the
declared end of major combat: Balad, about 40 miles northwest
of Baghdad.
They've been shot at, had rocks thrown at them, and endured
triple-digit heat--with no formal date set for return. Back
home, some of their loved ones have begun asking elected
leaders to get the Army to set a return date, if only a
tentative one, for a unit that could be in Iraq until
January, and perhaps longer.
``We understand they've got to be there,'' said Brad
Eckhart, whose wife is a medic with 323rd. ``But they're
being jerked around, and that's really damaging morale.''
For Sergeant Borell, he said the frustration erupted during
a shift guarding the north gate of the Sustainer Army
Airfield--where the sign reads ``Working together with the
Iraqi people for peace and prosperity.''
The 1991 Sylvania Southview High School graduate has made a
career of the military, spending 13 years alternating between
the regular forces an the Guard. He said the mission in Iraq
seemed noble when the 323rd arrived: Toppling a cruel
dictator who threatened world peace and helping the Iraqi
people build a new country.
The latter mission seemed a more important and fitting
role, he said, for an Army that taught him ``to be a warrior,
and an unstoppable, indefatigable combat power, but, at the
same time, to be a humanitarian.''
So he didn't hesitate when a father approached him outside
the base gate yesterday to show the sergeant his injured
children--who apparently were playing with explosive
material.
``He took me back to his car where his wife and three
children waited with a patience that could only have been
born of a life of adversity,'' Sergeant Borell recalled.
The mother held a 10 or 11-year-old in her arms, fanning
the boy's face with a piece of cardboard to keep the flies
off and soothe what the sergeant described as ``wounds of
unimaginable origin.''
``Most of his legs and arms were singed clean of the top
layers of flesh,'' Sergeant Borell said. ``His face was
contorted with the same manner of burns. I can only imagine
the intensity of the pain he was in.''
In the front seat, a girl age 8 or 9 had her arms, hands,
and the left side of her face covered with burns. Beside her
was a girl about 5, the right side of her face covered with
burns, and a baseball-sized welt on her hand.
They made no sounds, the sergeant said, but it didn't
matter.
``No verbal communication could possibly have conveyed the
amount on pain of suffering they were going through,'' he
said. ``But looking into their eyes, I knew that they were
pleading with me to help. If not as an American soldier,
trained and equipped to do so, then as a fellow human. They
were asking me and they were asking America.''
The sergeant passed on the request to his commanders, who
contacted the base hospital, which eventually sent two
doctors with the rank of major. They looked at the boy for
``perhaps a minute . . . and without so much as a cursory
examination of the girls, announced that there was nothing
they could do.''
The doctors told the sergeant that the wounds were not
life-threatening, that the children needed long-term care,
and that it wasn't the Americans' responsibility.
Sergeant Borell said that one doctor told him: ``We are not
here to be the treatment center for the country.''
The local hospital already had refused to treat the
children. So the sergeant gave the father all the supplies
from his personal medical bag, and the father left.
``The last time I checked, prior to the arrival of American
and coalition forces, the Iraqi people had a government,
albeit an appalling one,'' the sergeant said. ``And they had
an infrastructure, albeit a surely inadequate one. But, we,
in our `noble' effort to give the Iraqi people freedom and
secure peace for the world, have taken what little they had
away . . . So who is to provide these things taken from them?
The incident was the latest for a unit that has been
anything but the old stereotype of ``weekend warriors.''
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, they spent 11 months
guarding Fort Bragg, N.C. They returned home for four months,
only to be called up for the Iraq war.
The military can't provide direct accounts of what the unit
has experienced. But soldiers, in phone calls and e-mails to
family and friends, talk about the night a convoy was
ambushed by gunfire. Nobody was hurt. They talk of being on
patrol and repeatedly having rocks hurled at them.
They now live in an old airport hangar, eating one hot meal
a day and the rest from military Meals Ready to Eat, Mr.
Eckhart said. They must still use ``field toilets.''
And rumors continue to circulate about the unit's fate. A
Toledo TV station erroneously reported recently that the
323rd was coming home ``soon.'' Another rumor has the unit,
or at least some members, headed to Kosovo after Iraq.
Their orders in Iraq are for 365 days, taking them to mid-
January, 2004. The Army could keep them another year, but
that's unlikely, said Maj. Neal O'Brien, of the Ohio National
Guard.
``Obviously, the hope is that they're back earlier, and any
day less than a year is a good day,'' he said. ``There's
always a chance they could potentially be extended, but it's
certainly not expected.''
Still, he said, the Ohio National Guard has no way of
knowing a formal date of return because when a unit is
mobilized for federal duty, the Army assumes complete control
over the unit. And the Army isn't offering a date of return.
The National Guard leadership, based in Columbus, tries to
keep in touch with its units in Iraq. But Lt. Col. Mike Ore
said he hadn't yet heard of the incident with Sergeant Borell
and didn't know if the soldier's account was accurate.
``I know the 323rd has been engaged in some pretty heavy
stuff,'' Colonel Ore said.
In previous e-mails back home, Sergeant Borell talked of
heat that reached 126 degrees and how the Iraqis had
stockpiled weapons all over the country. U.S. troops tried to
keep the Iraqi children from playing with the weapons, but it
was difficult.
He didn't complain about military leadership until sending
the latest e-mail to the media and his family last night,
said his father, John Borell.
``For him to write that e-mail, it must have affected him
greatly,'' his father said.
Sergeant Borell, a father of two and stepfather of one,
ended his e-mail questioning why he was sacrificing his time,
energy, and potentially his life.
``I used to be proud of what I'm doing and of being an
American soldier,'' he said. ``After today, I wonder if I
will still be able to carry the title `soldier' with any
pride at all. Or simply with the knowledge that a `soldier'
couldn't even help three small children.''
____
[From the Toledo Blade, June 15, 2003]
Kaptur To Press Rumsfield on Toledo GI's `Reality Check', Iraqi Kids'
Wounds Spark Policy Debate
(By Joe Mahr)
From his hot and dusty base in northern Iraq, Ohio Army
National Guard Sgt. David Borell typed an e-mail criticizing
the U.S. military's lack of treatment for severely burned
Iraqi children.
A day later, the Sylvania native got the attention of his
congressman, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo). She pledged
yesterday to speak directly with the secretary of defense
himself--an action that could rekindle an international
debate over how much U.S. forces should, or even can, help
injured Iraqis.
``[Sergeant Borell] is in the finest tradition of the
American military,'' Miss Kaptur said yesterday. ``I am going
to make sure that the fact that he gave a ground-zero reality
check from there can guide policy-makers at the highest
level.''
Sergeant Borell, of the Toldeo-based 323rd Military Police
Company, complained Friday that he tried to get medical help
for three children with severe burns on the arms, legs, and
faces, but Army doctors told him that the children's wounds
were not life-threatening and it was not the Americans' duty
to help.
[[Page H5386]]
After having to send the family on its way without
treatment, the sergeant broke down and had to be comforted by
his platoon leader, Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Pacholski. The
moment was captured by an Associated Press photographer, and
the picture was printed yesterday in The Blade and newspapers
across the country.
Upon seeing the picture and article in The Blade, Miss
Kaptur said she shared the outrage of the 30-year-old
military police sergeant. She said it's not only a moral duty
for America, but a strategic one that can help build support
in an Arab world that increasingly questions America's
motives in Iraq.
``We are losing the battle for respect in that region,''
said Miss Kaptur, who opposed President Bush's decision to go
to war. ``We might command the ground--or hold the ground for
the moment--but we have to gain the hearts and minds of the
people.''
Miss Kaptur's criticism was shared by some who contacted
The Blade yesterday, such as Dave Pacholski, the brother of
the sergeant who comforted Sergeant Borell Friday.
``I have two little ones, and I find it irresponsible on
anybody's part to just walk away and say there's nothing they
can do,'' he said. ``Not only is that ignorant, but it was
totally against what doctors do.''
But others said the American military is doing the best it
can in what is still a dangerous war zone, and they
questioned whether anyone should pass judgment on a scenario
before hearing the side of military officials, which was not
available Friday or yesterday.
Maj. John Dzienny, a Toledo native now serving with U.S.
Army special forces in Iraq, wrote in an e-mail that he has
seen only ``compassion and resolve'' by American forces.
``It is the hope of all of us over here to see these people
one day free and safe, just as we enjoy at home. These things
take time, however, and it can strain the heart to not have
an instant solution. All an individual can do is the best he
or she can,'' he said.
It is not a new debate.
The nonprofit group Doctors Without Borders complained
three weeks after U.S. troops rolled into Baghdad that the
U.S.-led coalition hierarchy had failed to restart Iraq's
health-care system.
The group's international council president, Dr. Martin
Rostrup, not only blamed U.S. forces for failing to stop the
looting at many hospitals, but for not setting up an
administrative health system to replace Saddam's--which he
said was required under the Geneva Convention.
``They are definitely responsible to see that basic
services are put in place very rapidly so as to avoid
suffering of people. And this has not taken place. After
three weeks, the hospitals are in disarray and I find that
unacceptable,'' he told reporters then, according to an
Internet transcript of a May 3 news conference.
It's unclear now how much that's changed. The group's
spokesman said yesterday that he could not provide an
immediate assessment of Iraq's current health-care system.
And the human rights group Amnesty International has yet to
pass judgment on whether the U.S.-led coalition is doing
enough.
``The legal standard is a hard one to measure,'' group
spokesman Alistair Hodgett said. ``But I think you can't read
an account like that account [by Sergeant Borell] and not
feel like the U.S. should be doing more.''
A U.S. military spokesman said Iraqis have a better health-
care system now than before. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Klee,
speaking on behalf of the U.S. Central Command, said
yesterday that the military is doing the best it can to help
as many civilians as possible in a country roughly the size
of California.
``We are providing health care to Iraqis, but we don't have
the infrastructure to support the entire Iraqi civilian
population,'' said Commander Klee, who is based in Tampa.
He said he was unable to immediately provide the military's
detailed rules for when its field hospitals must accept Iraqi
civilians, but he said at the very least military hospitals
treat any civilians with life-threatening injuries. The rest
are referred to local, civilian-run hospitals.
He also said he was unable to immediately conform Sergeant
Borell's account of the burned children not getting medical
attention. But he said that, regardless, the military would
not punish the sergeant for speaking out--a key worry of
Congressman Kaptur.
``As long as he's speaking of his own personal opinions,
he's more than welcome to do that,'' Commander Klee said.
``He just can't speak for the military. He can express his
views. But when it comes to policy and official statements,
that's really our bailiwick.''
Contacted vie e-mail at their base 30 miles northwest of
Baghdad, other soldiers in the 323rd also were unable to
confirm the sergeant's account of the incident. But 1st Sgt.
Robert Orwig confirmed that the unit's Balad base treats only
civilians injured by an American or who have an injury that
could involve a loss of life, limb, or an eye.
Still, the 323rd soldiers routinely call the base hospital
anyway when an injured Iraqi approaches, and let the hospital
staff formally refuse to treat the injured.
``It is hard for our soldiers to have to turn the children
away, but that is the guidance we have and have to go by,''
he said.
``This wasn't the first incident that children were sent
away,'' he added. ``[It] probably won't be the last.''
Miss Kaptur, however, hopes it is the last.
She said she will seek out Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld as well as House leaders from both parties when she
returns to Washington tomorrow. She said the military should
be able to set up more field hospitals to treat wounded
Iraqis until the Iraqi civilian hospitals can do the job.
If the U.S. military can't do it, Miss Kaptur said, other
international groups or even American citizens should.
``I know the American people. We could fill a cargo plane
out here at Toldeo Express and equip the first field hospital
ourselves,'' she said.
As for Sergeant Borell, he wrote in an e-mail to The Blade
yesterday that the Iraqi family hadn't returned yet to the
base to seek help for their children.
``I imagine one refusal is enough for them,'' he said.
____
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, June 16, 2003.
Hon. Donald H. Rumsfeld,
Secretary, Department of Defense,
The Pentagon, Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: Based on these articles, I am
requesting a personal meeting with you. I wish to propose an
expedited schedule by the U.S. to establish temporary field
hospitals in Iraq, perhaps in concert with our Arab allies,
serving the wounded and suffering. With Baghdad's early fall,
sufficient funds have been appropriated to accommodate these
facilities.
In addition, UN health organizations, Doctors Without
Borders, and Americans from all walks of life should be
engaged in this moral imperative. Our forces, or those of
coalition allies, can be used to secure the perimeters where
such field health services would be offered.
As a representative from the Arab-American crescent that
lies between Toledo, Ohio, Dearborn, Michigan, and Cleveland,
Ohio, I know our region would rise to the occasion of
equipping and staffing the first such hospital. Equally,
America should match our commitment.
It is now our obligation. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Marcy Kaptur,
U.S. Representative.
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