Operation Smile - A Good Story Out Of Iraq

While browsing HappyNews.com today, I found a great story from Iraq.

"Operation Smile, an international nongovernmental organization, provides corrective surgery for children with cleft palates and cleft lips, congenital birth defects that affect about one out of every 600 children, according to the Cleft Palate Foundation."

Operation Smile had taken 110 Iraqi children along with 97 of their parents and guardians out of Iraq in order for the children to receive the corrective surgeries. However, the organization was going to travel back into Iraq via bus, but they feared for the safety of the children and their families. This is where the Air Force stepped in. Here is another excerpt from the article:

"As they stepped into the large, gray military cargo plane, their eyes widened and their expressions were equal parts wonOperation Smile cofounder and chief executive officer Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., and chief medical officer Dr. Robert Rubin wrote to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and requested assistance from the Air Force to provide safe airlift for the Iraqi children and their parents.

The Air Force received approval for the mission late April 28 evening, and by early on the 29th, the C-17 was airborne and en route to Amman. der and bewilderment. This was the first time many of the Iraqi children and their parents had ever flown in an airplane, and none had ever been in an aircraft as large as the U.S. Air Force's C-17 Globemaster III."

The last paragraph in the article says it all:

"The bottom line is that the military is really trying to do what it can to help," Anderson said. "The support was a great match for us."

To read the complete article, go to this page on HappyNews.com.

Good luck today. Make it a great one!

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