Cowardice

It all started early in the morning in a busy market of a town near here.  A market usually patrolled and guarded by the Iraqi Police.  A market where the police usually prevent vehicles from entering so that occurrences of violence wouldn’t happen.  For some reason, this particular morning no IPs were to be found according to the reports.  A man in non-traditional clothing drove his vehicle into the busy market, parked it, and walked away.  A few minutes later his vehicle exploded, wounding more than 70 and killing 29 people – including women and children.  Innocent people going about their daily lives.

Was this a strike against coalition forces? No, none were anywhere close.  Was this a strike against the Iraqi Police or government? No, as I stated they were mysteriously missing this morning.  This was a strike by terrorist cowards against the people of Iraq in order to strike fear and hate into the hearts of the people.  It was an act of violence such as hadn’t been seen in this part of the country in a long time.  Why? Because it was an easy target and the people here believe differently than the people who blew them up.

The wounded and dead were taken to the local hospital, which was almost immediately overwhelmed by the influx of patients.  In a testament to the resilience and new found strength of the people of Iraq, only 5 were sent to the local CSH for treatment under the Medical ROE.  Unfortunately, two did not make it further.  The survivors suffered horrendous wounds and were in emergency surgery for hours.  Destroyed faces, amputated limbs, shrapnel, internal injury, and all the horrible injuries that you see on the news these people suffered solely because they were in the market at the wrong time.

Following surgery, we airlifted the surviving three north for continued care and stabilizing.  These patients were not stable.  They were immediately post surgical and in dire straits.  All of them required advanced critical care en route.  All of them were teetering on the edge.  We had to set them down, reevaluate, and treat developing problems on the ground before we could transfer them to another flight for continued transport.  One patient went to the TMC at the transferring FOB before being transferred because he was not doing well. 

We spent more than 24 hours working on this MASCAL with Iraqis, CSH personnel, and others.  We had several more helicopters on standby waiting to receive patients and send them where they needed to go.  Everyone did their job, and people survived to see another day.  None of which would have been necessary except for the actions of cowards who cannot tolerate people living their lives without the fear of death or terrorism.

In the aftermath, the local IP chief was fired, some suspects were arrested, and the people actually revolted and stoned the IPs for not protecting them.  There is more to that story than was told in the news I am sure, having lived around Iraqis, and patrolled the very streets of Iraq the last time I was here.  The upside is that the people are now looking to their own government for protection and holding them accountable for their actions instead of the U.S. and coalition.  That is a positive sign.