    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [March 11, 2008]
    [Pages 345-346]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Arrival in Nashville, Tennessee
    March 11, 2008

        The President. This is Dr. Christian,
    Dr. Karla Christian, who really symbolizes the best of America. She and
    a team of hers have performed a surgery on a little Iraqi girl who was discovered by United States marines.
    People in Nashville raised the money for the family; they were supported
    by the marines there in Iraq. Some of the marines raised money, and they
    sent this little girl, whose heart was ailing, to America, right here to
    Nashville. And Karla and her team healed the little girl, and she's back
    in Iraq.
        And the contrast couldn't be more vivid. We got people in Iraq who
    murder the innocent to achieve their political objec-

    tives, and we've got Americans who heal the broken hearts of little
    Iraqi girls. Ours is a compassionate nation that believes in the
    universality of freedom. And ours is a nation full of loving souls that
    when they find a stranger in need will lend their God-given talents to
    help that stranger. And that's precisely what happened.

        Karla G. Christian. Thank you.
        The President. I want you to thank your team there for all the good
    work you've done.
        Dr. Christian. Thank you for all
    you've done.
        The President. God bless.

    [[Page 346]]

    Note: The President spoke at 10:29 a.m. at Nashville International
    Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Karla G. Christian, associate
    chief of pediatric cardiac surgery and director of pediatric cardiac
    surgical education, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt,
    and her patient Amina Al'a Thabit.