Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, a West Point graduate and Army Reservist, left his young wife and two toddlers in Temecula, Calif., last spring to deploy to Iraq. "Most of us here understand the politics of war," said Capt. Matthew Lawton, one of Freeman's close friends in Iraq. "Brian didn't really agree with the war, I think. But he understood, going to West Point, going to the military -- that was the right thing to do."
One day last April, a local police chief pulled Freeman aside and told him about an ailing boy. The second of five children, Ali Abdulameer was born with a debilitating heart condition that gradually restricted his blood flow. Barring surgery, his father said, the boy's chances of making it to adulthood were slim.
Capt. Freeman decided to make a personal commitment to help this child. "It may have started with a program we saw on Doctors Without Borders," stated his wife, Charlotte, "He was very moved by the fact that these people went to dangerous situations and helped out, and their philosophy was that's how you let people around the world know there are good people who will help. That was his vision."
He contacted SSG Marikay Satryano, an Army Reservist from Tarrytown, N.Y., who had become something of an expert in cutting through red tape to get Iraqi children abroad for critical medical care. Stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, Satryano wrote back outlining how to get the process started.
"Here's the hard part: funding," she wrote. "We are penniless here. No budget, no pot of gold." As soldiers, they were barred from soliciting money directly, she explained. "But we CAN make people aware of this child, SO if you know persons that are interested in saving this child, the magic number is $8,000 USD." Freeman spent the next few months collecting medical records and contacting charity organizations. His wife, Charlotte, helped out, making calls and sending e-mails.
Through his persistence and countless hours fighting through the various bureaucracies, Schneider Children's Hospital in New York agreed to perform the operation at a reduced fee and Gift of Life, a New York-based nonprofit organization that connects low-income children suffering from serious heart ailments, took the case.
After nearly six months of overcoming financial and bureaucratic hurdles in a war zone, Freeman told the Iraqi man, there were promising signs that a pair of U.S. visas -- the last big step in getting Abu Ali's 11-year-old son to the United States for lifesaving heart surgery -- would be issued soon.
Hours later, shortly before sunset Jan. 20, armed men in GMC trucks stormed into the government building in Karbala, in southern Iraq. They killed an American soldier, handcuffed Freeman and three other U.S. soldiers, hauled them into the vehicles and drove off. Freeman and the other abducted soldiers were later slain by the attackers.
The following day, Satryano made a call to CPT Freeman to happily announce that the pair's visas had arrived only to learn of his death.
CPT Freeman was buried February 1st. Ali Abdulameer and his father are expected to arrive in New York this week. After the surgery, they hope to meet Freeman's widow.
Summarized from the article "Quest to Heal Iraqi Boy Became Final Mission", Washington Post, February 15, 2007
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Comments: 20
but I had to let you know your post has been heard.
God Bless America and all who live in strife
The ongoing tragedy is how little we hear of the heroism of our troops overseas. I'm positive there are dozens upon dozens of stories like this one - many with completely happy endings - that we aren't hearing because the media looks at anything good from Iraq as a positve for Bush and the war effort which is something they vehemently disagree with. It's really very sad that journalists who say such glowing things about being unbiased turn their backs on those who protect their freedom of the press.
Capt. Freeman definitely had a life worth living, a meaningful life, and he deserved to be able to live the rest of his his life and to have the opportunity to do more good works like this, as well as to take care of the family he loved. Yes, his life WAS wasted, and yes his death WAS meaningless, as were the deaths of the 3,100+ others like him--because they have perished participating in a war that was fraudulently- predicated, if not illegal, which has accomplished nothing except to foment chaos in Iraq and the Middle East at large. That is the tragedy of this insane endeavor.
They volunteered to defend their country. Their trust in the integrity of their leadership--from the top down--has been violated by misusing them in a foolishly devised, poorly planned, and futile conflict. They are dying, needlessly, ever day, only because Bush and Cheney are unwilling to concede that they were wrong from the very beginning of this enterprise, and they are desperately trying to salvage what little credibility they may have left.
-cousin-