Iraqi Boy Deafened in US Airstrike Undergoes Surgery in San Francisco

Mustafa lost his hearing in an American air strike in Baquoba, Iraq. No More Victims brought Mustafa to the US for a cochlear implant and rehabilitative treatment. The surgery, performed by Dr. Larry Lustig of UCSF Medical Center, was a complete success. Local arrangements were organized by members of the Ruth Group and the Iraq Action Group, both based in the San Francisco Bay area.

The violence US forces mete out to civilians is rarely covered in the media (please indulge me in this understatement). This missile strike hit the house next door to the one in which Mustafa lived. He was standing near the wall in his home that was closest to the blast. The man who lived in the home where the missile actually struck was a retired bachelor who led an extremely quiet life. No trace of him was ever found. On the street in front of his house, two young children were buying sweets from a vendor. The children and the vendor were blown to bits. A woman who across the street had been childless during the first 11 years of her marriage. She and her husband had borrowed money from family so she could undergo fertility treatments. She had conceived, and was expecting the child in four months. She was outside on the porch when the missile struck; it knocked her down, and she lost the child. After this happened to her, she took a doll and pretended it was her baby. She walks around the house cooing to a piece of plastic.

Such stories are common in countries the US attacks. They almost never reach the people whose taxes fund the attacks. Think back: during more than a decade of war, how many such stories do you recall being reported in the corporate media? By now these stories number in the many hundreds of thousands, and they are not difficult to uncover. So why is the public is left in the dark?

Categorised in: Children, Mustafa Ghazwan

This post was written by Cole Miller