[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.