Thor’s Hall

So a few of the folks at VFF have headed back to Iraq as embeds and are providing their view on the changes in Iraq.  David Bellavia, is one of those and he brings his unique perspective to the current situation.

Top Ten Signs the Surge has worked:

10. The Kevlar and vest mandatory uniform from 2003 to 2007 has been replaced with the gentle request of “please wear a hat” at the Baghdad International Airport flight line.

9. The Subway in Baghdad now serves double meat on request.

8. Number one complaint of Green Zone soldiers is the lack of decals for the new Les Paul Guitar Hero: Aerosmith model edition.

7. Ambassador Ryan Crocker is releasing a Christmas Cookbook.

6. The Mehdi Army is now issuing referral letters to other terrorist organizations based out of Iran.

5. Two words: Putt Putt

4. The Marines, since losing out on precious trigger time in Anbar due to the record low violence in the area, project to be at a 25% literacy rate by 2010.

3. Most popular name in Diyala, province since 2007: Petraeus Mohammed Al Sistani Surge al Baquba

2. Iraqis are no longer of the belief that Michael Jackson is an acceptable American role model.

1. Prime Minister Maliki is new co-owner of the new Arena Football Team: Baghdad Blaze.

Bellavia is in Diyala Province.  Go read his other reports here

“Actions speak louder than words”. An old saying that remains true. Read the rest, draw your own conclusions.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here – what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Barack Obama
Campaign Speech in Berlin, Germany
July 24, 2008

Barack Obama talks.
Barack Obama talks about lifting the child from Bangladesh from poverty.
John McCain already did it.

John and Cindy McCain adopted Bridget McCain… From Bangladesh.

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talks on the cell phone in his hotel room on election night in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. At right are his daughters Bridget and Meghan McCain. McCain won the New Hampshire Republican primary, completing a remarkable comeback and climbing back into contention for the presidential nomination. (Daylife.com)

In 1991, John and Cindy McCain adopted a beautiful young girl from Bangladesh.
The Wall Street Journal reported:

(I)n 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.

Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. “I hope she can stay with us,” she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

…(T)here was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.

“We were called at midnight by Cindy,” Wes Gullett remembers, and “five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport.” Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, “I never saw a hospital bill” for her care.