Sympathetic soldier brings Iraqi boy home

[Rose Siding]

MAUSTON, Wis. -- When Capt. Scott Southworth took his soldiers to a Baghdad orphanage in 2003 to befriend the children, a small boy with cerebral palsy immediately returned the favor, crawling across the floor to sit next to him.

"By the time we left that first day, he was trying to take off my watch or to do anything he could to keep me from leaving the orphanage," Southworth said.

More than a year later, Southworth has made a return trip to Iraq and brought 11-year-old Ala'a back to Wisconsin, where Southworth now works as a district attorney.

Iraqi law won't allow Southworth to adopt Ala'a, but he was able to bring the boy home last month under a "humanitarian parole" that lets him make sure the boy gets medical care and goes to school.

Southworth, 32, who is single, knew the alternative for Ala'a was life in a government orphanage with little chance of adequate medical care or an education......

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/20/sympathetic_soldier_brings_iraqi_boy_home/

[Erika]

1. God Bless Him

[marew]

2. Tears in my eyes. Wow! n/t

[Kerrytravelers]

3. You KNOW what's coming next.

* has Southworth and the Iraqi boy to the Oval Office for some publicity pictures and takes the boy to church with him (he only attends when cameras are present) so the young man can know Jesus.

Ah, what a saint * will be.


I hope Southworth keeps this boy's life private and doesn't allow him to be a tool for the NeoCon Death Cult.

What he has done is so noble. I hope he serves as an inspiration for others who are able to bring orphaned children out of that war torn hell hole.