Dear Interested Readers,
Thanks to compassionate Americans, Iraqi child will have life saving operation, and donating blood saves the lives of 2 IP. Hawijah literacy program off to a good start. Suspected terrorists captured, and huge quantities of weapons and munitions caches seized.
Joanna
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Multi-National Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342
June 20, 2008
Iraqi Army captures suspected terrorist leader, detain four others
BALAD - In Mosul, June 18, the IA conducted an op to disrupt terrorist activities and cell ops. They captured a suspected terrorist leader accused of facilitating and distributing IEDs in the area. The suspected terrorist is allegedly responsible for numerous IED and VBIED attacks on Iraqi and CF. The suspect is also accused of engaging and killing CF on numerous occasions over the past 3 years. The IA also detained 4 other suspected terrorists during the op.
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Iraqi child to receive life saving surgeries June 30
FOB DELTA - When she was born, doctors didn't expect her to live a week, but a one-year-old Iraqi girl is defying the odds. She overcame the initial diagnosis, but without proper care, Noor Majeed could still die.
Fortunately, surgeons in Boston have agreed to donate their services to help her, and a donor in Cambridge, Mass., donated $100,000 for her medical care. Noor's surgery is scheduled June 30 at Boston Children's Hospital.
The care required to correct bladder exstrophy is unavailable in Iraq. In addition to surgery to repair the bladder, Noor will also require orthopedic surgery on her pelvis and hips, as well as reconstruction and corrective procedures, said Capt. Michael Mullaly, an operating room nurse with the 912th Forward Surgical Team. Mullaly was attached to the 948th FST as an operating room nurse when Noor began treatment in the FOB Delta medical facility.
"When Noor was born, and when I saw her condition, I wished to die," said Zainab Najy, Noor's mother. "I felt hopeless and helpless. And because of the lack of adequate care that can treat her, and because of our financial situation, we could not afford to help her. I was expecting her to die at any moment; I even told my mother that I don't want to get attached to her, because I thought she would die soon.
"But as days go by, Noor resisted and stayed alive. I was hurt all the time as I watched other children walking and playing. But, Noor can't even sit or walk. My life became filled with depression, sadness and pain, but now, I am happy because I feel that Noor will live and all this made possible by the American people, and the American troops and the medical staff who helped us save Noor's life," she said.
"My feeling was desperate, for a father who sees his daughter suffering, and we could not help her. The Iraqi doctors could not help her, that's why we came (to Army doctors)," said Neseer M. Jemeel, Noor's father. "I was so happy when I heard my daughter will be treated, because I had lost hope completely. I feel safe because (the Americans) are caring. They care about children, mothers -- they know life is valuable, and they are true human beings."
When Noor and her mother arrive in Boston, they will be greeted by a friendly face - Mullaly, now an operating room nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital in Worchester, Mass., plans to meet them when they land. "It can be overwhelming," said Mullaly of traveling to a new country where you know no one and don't speak the language. "I think a familiar face would make it easier. I'm pretty vested in this case. I'm attached to this baby."
Zainab Najy holds her daughter, Noor, at the FOB Delta medical facility before the infant received several life-saving procedures.
Capt. Mike Mullaly, an operating room nurse anesthetist attached to the 948th FST, carries Noor into the operating room with her mom, Zainab Najy looking on.
Staff Sgt. Andrea Bolton, 26th BSB, 3rd ID, checks on Noor May 14 at the FOB Delta medical facility.
Noor Majeed at the FOB Delta medical facility.
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Sharqat Emergency Response Unit detains three suspected terrorists, recovers cache
BALAD - In the village of al-Kedraniyah, approx. 98 km southeast of Mosul, June 17, the ERU conducted the op to search for weapons caches. They seized a significant number of weapons and ammo, consisting of approx. 100 pounds of explosive material with assorted fuses, boosters and chargers; anti-personnel land mines; a sniper system with home-made silencer; a Katyusha rocket; several hand grenades; and several thousand small arms and artillery rounds.
During the op, the ERU also detained 3 suspected terrorists with the ISI, a front organization for the foreign-led AQI.
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ISF, NP, MND-B Soldiers seize weapons caches throughout Baghdad
BAGHDAD - June 18, in Sadr City, IA seized 3 RFPs, a PKC machine gun, 2 EFPs, 6 light anti-armor launchers, 11 anti-tank RPG rounds, 2 anti-personnel RPG rounds, a machine gun, several AK-47 mags, a pair of night vision goggles, 2 14 mm rounds, 2 25 mm sights, 3 AK-47s and more than 200 7.62 rounds, 2 RPGs, a fuse and a 9 mm machine gun at approx. 6 a.m.
Approx. 2 hours later, IA Soldiers with the 2nd BCT, 101st Abn Div (AASLT), found a weapons cache in the Mansour district, consisting of 3 RPGs, a box of 12.7 mm rounds, a machine gun; 1,000, 7.62 mm rounds; 2 120 mm rounds, a set of body armor plates, detonation cord, a blasting cap and homemade explosives.
Iraqi NP uncovered a weapons cache in the West Rashid district,consisting of a RPG launcher, a war head, 4 hand grenades and approximately 700 7.62 rounds.
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Tip leads Soldiers to militants with ties to cache, explosives
BAGHDAD - June 18, after receiving a tip from a local resident, Soldiers from the 4th BCT, 10th Mtn Div (Lt), conducted an op to capture criminals in the Shawra Wa Um Jidir neighborhood and detained 3 militants allegedly associated with a weapons cache seized in a metal shop, June 13. The 3 were also believed to be involved with 3 EFPs uncovered in a car, May 15. The Soldiers also detained 3 of their alleged associates.
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Hawijah literacy program
During a recent site check of schools in Hawijah and Riyadh, Lt. Col. Christopher Vanek, cmdr, 1st Bn, 87th Inf Regt., 1st Bde, 10th Mtin Div, met with the staff and visited with students at 2 sites for updates regarding the pilot literacy program underway there. The 2 schools visited are involved in a literacy program envisioned by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the comm. gen of MNF - Iraq, and carried out by Soldiers of the 1st Bn.
It is designed to prepare 500 SoI members in the Hawijah district of northeastern Iraq for the application process that is necessary to be considered as candidates for the IP and IA.
Capt. William Shields, EO, Co Delta, 1st Bn, speaks with a teacher at the Riyadh site of a pilot literacy program.
A teacher instructs Riyadh SoI members in a pilot literacy program designed to transition SOI members into the Iraq SF.
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Service members, civilian contractors donate blood, save lives of two IPs
Petty Officer 1st Class Mike J. Loesch, the Walking Blood Bank supervisor, 1st Marine Logistics Group, draws blood from Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles H. Casler, a hospital corpsman, Medical Co., 1st Supply Bn., 1st MLG, at Camp Taqaddum Surgical, June 18. Two IPs wounded in separate incidents Monday may have died had it not been for the quick response of CF to donate blood. The blood reached the casualties within 20 minutes of the "walking blood bank" being opened.
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ISF, MND-B Soldiers seize weapons, munitions
BAGHDAD - June 17, in a combined patrol with IA soldiers and Iraqi NP, seized were 20 rifles of various types, 7 pistols, a radio, a scope, a taser, a military map and 150 rounds of ammo at approx. 4 a.m. in Kadhamiyah.
Later in the day, Soldiers from the 2nd BCT, 101st Abn Div (AASLT), found 2 EFPs, 3 60 mm mortar rounds, 3 RPG launchers, 3 RPG charges, 5 grenades, 4 spools of cord, a mortar tube, 2 IED initiators, 400 rounds of 7.62 mm ammo, 3 RPGs and 4 RPGs rigged as IEDs.
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ISOF capture suspected Special Groups criminal leader in Baghdad
BALAD - In Baghdad June 16, the ISOF conducted the op to capture the criminal believed to be responsible for emplacing IEDs and organizing meetings of Special Groups criminals targeting Iraqi and CF. He is also suspected of an IED attack against a U.S. convoy in November 2007, which damaged an M1 tank.
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Iraqi Border Patrol detains suspected terrorist, recovers weapons caches
BALAD - The Iraqi Border Patrol detained a suspected terrorist and recovered 2 weapons caches in Butha, approx. 80 km west of Tal Afar, June 16.
IBP officers were conducting an op to search for weapons caches when they discovered a house in an apparently abandoned village containing 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a box of 90 mm ammo, and 9 unidentified explosive containers.
After searching the village, officers discovered a family and the suspected terrorist living in one of the houses. They determined the suspect threatened the family in order to use their home as a hiding place after he fled the weapons cache site. The suspect is identified as a member of the ISI, a front org. for AQI. He allegedly trains future ISI members. He admitted to knowing about the cache and said an associate owned the cache house.
An additional 150 pounds of ammonium nitrate were recovered from another abandoned home nearby.
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