Correspondent Chuck Holton Offers Encouraging Reports and Prayer Points from South Baghdad
"It is only a matter of time before this war is won. And it won't be won by bombs, bullets or armor, though those will be necessary to allow our greatest weapon to flourish. Love will win this war…"
(South Baghdad)—Chuck Holton, a CBN News correspondent, former Army Ranger and author, is embedded with U.S. troops in South Baghdad. Holton has been sending numerous reports, many of which have been posted on the Baghdad Prayer Patrol website. (Photo: Chuck Holton-CBN)
Although difficult at times, much of the news from Holton reveals the great progress troops are making in Iraq, which is often times not reported by the Networks.
Below are a few excerpts, read the rest of Chuck Holton's reports at the link provided.
December 12, 2007:
…If you've been reading my recent posts, you know about the progress that is being made here in Arab Jabour, just south of Baghdad–businesses are opening and today I got to see hundreds of knapsack-toting children leaving their school - all waving happily at our convoy as we passed.
But not everyone is happy about this progress. Yesterday, someone south of here launched two mortar rounds toward an area where U.S. troops were standing guard. The rounds missed, but unfortunately, one landed between two houses where some children were playing. I spoke with one Army officer who was there.
"Within minutes, we started seeing locals coming toward our position," he said. "Among them were two small girls who had been injured by shrapnel from the blast. We couldn't find their parents, but after several minutes of searching, we found an uncle, and the three of them were brought in to our patrol base so the girls could be treated."
I was there on Patrol Base Murray when the girls arrived. They were rushed into the medic's tent, and a very able PA there assessed their wounds while the command post called for a medivac. Within minutes, two black hawk helicopters emblazoned with the Red Cross symbol landed at the compound and spirited the girls and their uncle to the Combat Army Surgical Hospital in the Green Zone.
The five year old had shrapnel removed from her head and neck. The three-year-old's injuries were more serious - a perforated liver. This afternoon we were informed that both should make a full recovery.
That little girl wouldn't be alive today without the consummate medical attention she received, for free, from the United States. Even though we weren't the cause of her injuries, the kind of compassion she and her sister experienced from U.S. forces will pay big dividends for our cause. It's likely her entire village understands that our side is the side of peace and security, and that Al Qaeda and the extremists have nothing to offer but destruction. How many American lives this might save will never be quantifiable, but it's undoubtedly one of our most powerful weapons in this war. The cowards are being shown for who they are. Their every cruelty brings more recruits to our door. It is only a matter of time before this war is won.
And it won't be won by bombs, bullets or armor, though those will be necessary to allow our greatest weapon to flourish. Love will win this war…
December 13, 2007:
When praying for our soldier's safety, pray specifically that they will have discernment as to where they should walk. The enemy south of Baghdad has resorted to using ghastly improvised explosives not aimed at vehicles - our up-armored trucks are now very good at surviving IEDs. But when our soldiers have to dismount, that's when they are getting hurt. The enemy is making pressure-plate detonators out of - ironically, this time of year - Christmas lights. They remove the lights and insert small pieces of plastic tubing which, when stepped on complete a circuit and detonate the explosive. These are hidden inside reeds which are very common here, and which are found lying around all over the place. Today, an EOD team was looking for improvised explosives with their robot when a man ran out of the bushes and stole the robot! But we didn't dare go after him because of the threat of trip wires and such. Pray they get their robot back. The thing cost about $50,000. I don't know what the thief plans to do with it. Unfortunately, many times little local children are the ones who find the pressure-plate explosives, the hard way.
