A Year In Iraq

Soldiers Angels
Volunteers help soldiers overseas

6/15/2004 9:41 AM

By: Debbie Tanna & Web Staff



Boxes filled with comforts from home are en route to soldiers stationed in Iraq.



Soldiers� Angels, a non-profit organization made up of thousands of volunteers across the United States, is mailing snacks and personal hygiene items to the men and women fighting the war.



�Just knowing that somehow we brighten their day, everything they do for us and this is just so small compared to what they sacrifice for us and when they open these up, they know that people care,� said volunteer Peggy Baker.



Soldiers� Angels volunteers fill backpacks with donated items to give to soldiers wounded in combat. Things like underwear, toothbrushes and get well cards help make the solder's transition back home more comfortable.

Target Americans Target the World
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually

a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of

a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.



So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an

American is, so they would know when they found one.



An American is English, French, Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.



An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only

difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only

to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.



An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence,

which recognizes the God given right of each person the pursuit of happiness.



An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other

nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by

the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to

enable the people to win back their country.



As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other

nation to the poor in Afghanistan.



Americans welcome the best, the best products, the best books, the best

music, the best food, the best athletes. But they also welcome the least.



The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your

tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them

were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a

better life for their families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those

that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did

General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant

in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They

are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to

that spirit, everywhere, is an American.