Margaret Hassan
Right before the U.S. started bombing Iraq, when I stupidly thought there was at least a possibility that Bush might be dissuaded, I read an article by a group of journalists who were getting ready to leave Baghdad, describing the hopes and fears of the Iraqis they had interviewed. They reported that a group of children had said: "Take our pictures! Maybe if the Americans can see our photographs, they won't want to kill us anymore!" For some reason that affected me a lot, and stays with me every day. Today I read something I find similarly powerful, here:
[Excerpt]
Hundreds of people took to the streets in Baghdad yesterday to show their support for kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan - the first time there has been such a public protest against an abduction since the wave of hostage-taking began.
Many of those taking part were disabled people who had benefited from the work carried out by Mrs. Hassan, the country director for the charity Care International. Among them were 30 pupils from a school for deaf children carrying her photographs asking for the release of "Mama Margaret".
....
Ahmed Jabir, a boy in a wheelchair, said: " If it wasn't for her, we would probably have died. She built us a hospital and took care of us. She made us feel happy again. I can truly say that we love her, and we are very upset by what has happened."
Nasrat al-Asdi, who had brought the children from the deaf school, said: "She has been invaluable for them. Not only did she give us money for hearing aids but she reconstructed the institute. We could not believe they would do this to someone like her."
As Anne Frank said, "It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
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