Monday, December 27, 2004

Families of slain troops raising money for Fallujah residents

Okay, this marks one of the few times I'm going to post a news article which is positive. It's not that there isn't lots of feelgood news out there, it's just that it's the holidays and all, so I figure we need some cheering up...
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Families of US troops killed in the offensive on the Iraqi city of Fallujah are to travel to Jordan next week with 600,000 dollars worth of humanitarian aid for refugees of the attack.

The November assault on Fallujah left 71 US military dead, according to the families, and the Iraqi government said more than 2,000 Iraqis were killed.

"This delegation is a way for me to express my sympathy and support for the Iraqi people," said Rosa Suarez of Escondido in California.

"The Iraq (news - web sites) war took away my son's life, and it has taken away the lives of so many innocent Iraqis. It is time to stop the killing and to help the children of Iraq," she added in a statement released by the families.

The main positive thing about this article is that hopefully Iraqis will see that people in the U.S. are truly humanitarians, willing to donate their time, money, and energy and turn it into something good. Currently, all Iraqis see is the destruction from our government's tanks and guns - and we're still wondering why certain groups don't trust us or want us to succeed? Every time a city is ransacked, as in Fallujah, the chasm of distrust grows, but through more direct humanitarian gestures, we can begin to restore some of that trust.

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