Noora Afif

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Noora was shot in the head by a US sniper at the ripe and menacing age of 5. As her father writes, “On October 23, 2006, at 4 in the afternoon, American snipers positioned on a rooftop in my neighborhood started firing toward my car. My daughter Noora, a five-year-old child, was hit in the head. We rushed her to Heet General Hospital but she could not be treated there because the hospital lacked supplies and qualified doctors. We were forced to take her to Ninawa hospital, which is 600 kilometers north of my town. Two operations were performed in the Neurological Department. Then she was transferred to Ramadi General Hospital where two more operations were performed by a neurosurgeon.”

“Noora lost bone in her skull and needs a prosthetic replacement. She also needs plastic surgery. These operations cannot be done in Iraq due to the terrible state of Iraq’s medical care system. If you can help us with this problem, please try…”

Despite multiple operations, Noora was left with a large hole in her skull covered only by skin and scar tissue. Her parents slept with her between them due to their fear that she would fall during the night and damage her unprotected brain. She could not go outside to play with her friends. A minor fall could have killed her. The family asked for assistance from the US military, but were told help would be provided only if they would say that the injuries were caused by “terrorists” and gave them names. Multiple witnesses saw the American snipers firing into the family’s car. They refused to lie, and Noora was denied treatment for the injuries US forces had inflicted.

One of Noora’s medical reports reads, in part: “Noora sustained an explosive bullet injury to her head that smashed the skull bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane.” NMV evacuated Noora and her father from the war zone and brought them to Maine, where she received treatment denied to her by the occupying forces that caused her injuries:

Such crimes against civilians are common and have fueled growing anger against the United States in much of the world. Yet coverage of the harm our violence inflicts on civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and a host of other countries is virtually non-existent in the mainstream American media. The video above is a remarkable exception, showing that concerted effort by everyday Americans can make a difference in the lives of war-injured children and achieve some of the mainstream coverage such harrowing stories deserve. In theory we live in a democracy, and though corporations have captured our government through a cynical system of electoral bribery (codified into law by a corporatist supreme court in the Citizens United Decision, undoing a century of settled law), we are responsible in the eyes of the world for restoring a semblance of humanity to US foreign policy. Contempt for the decent opinion of mankind exposes us all to the risk of reprisal attacks and the threat of growing repression at home. Please watch the video below and distribute it among your family, friends and contacts.