NYT: To Flee or to Stay? Family Chooses Too Late and Pays Dearly

[DeepModem Mom]

To Flee or to Stay? Family Chooses Too Late and Pays Dearly
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: July 24, 2006


(Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty Images)
Ali Shaito implored his mother, Muntaha, to stay conscious as she lay near death from shrapnel wounds.

SIDIQEEN, Lebanon, July 23 — Muntaha Shaito’s eyes rolled back as the paramedics screamed at her to stay awake and implored her son Ali to keep her engaged, as she teetered near death from shrapnel wounds inflicted by an Israeli rocket.

“Pray to God!,” one paramedic shouted at her as she writhed in Ali’s arms.

“Don’t go to sleep Mama, look at me!,” Ali shouted, tears streaking his bloodied face. “Don’t die, please don’t die!”

It was the scene that members of the extended Shaito family said they had feared most, the real reason they had held out for days in their village of Tireh in southern Lebanon, terrified of the Israeli bombardment, but more terrified of what might happen if they risked leaving. On Sunday they gave up their stand, and all 18 members crammed into the family’s white Mazda minivan. They planned to head north toward the relative safety of Beirut....

***

An Israeli rocket, which Lebanese officials said was likely fired from a helicopter, slammed into the center of the Shaitos’ van as it sped round a bend a few miles west of their village, and the van crashed into a hillside. Three occupants were killed: an uncle, Mohammad; the grandmother, Nazira; and a Syrian man who had guarded their home. The missile also critically wounded Mrs. Shaito and her sister. Eleven others suffered less severe wounds....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/world/middleeast/24tyre.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[cali]

1. How terrible.

I don't have any words to express how I feel about the bombing of Lebanon. It's criminal, and that so few politicians are speaking up about it, is maddening.

[UpInArms]

2. and from CNN: Four children and the cost of war

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/23/perry.tyre/index.html

TYRE, Lebanon (CNN) -- The last time I sat down to write something, it was about the cost of war. As I looked ahead to the coming days, the last words I wrote were: Who will die?

Today, I found out.

Standing in front of this 8-year-old boy lying in a hospital bed, the "conflict in the Middle East" and the "cost of war" seem endless and suffocating. His pain cannot possibly be imagined as he shakes uncontrollably in and out of shock. He has blood coming from his eyes.

His name is Mahmood Monsoor and he is horribly burned. In the hospital bed next to him is his 8-month-old sister, Maria -- also burned. Screaming at the top of her lungs is the children's mother, Nuhader Monsoor. She is standing over her baby, looking at her son -- and probably thinking of her dead husband. The smell of burned flesh is overwhelming.

This story, for the Monsoor family, started out as a typical one, probably one that most of us have experienced. They had simply gone on a family vacation to some lovely sunny beaches, but these beaches were in southern Lebanon.

The six of them, like thousands of others, were fleeing the fighting -- trying to get north, waving white flags, when an Israeli bomb or missile slammed into their car. (Watch how the littlest victims are suffering -- 2:54. Viewer discretion is advised.)



...more...

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Thanks for adding this article, UpinArms. nt

[UpInArms]

4. once again, indiscriminate killing

affects the world in ways that will be measured for years to come.

:cry:

[rumpel]

5. on this they also reported on the air the telltale signs of phosphorus

in the bombs, doctors talking about the "strong smell"

funny it is not mentioned in the article -

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. CNN now showing these child victims of war, but in the drumbeat to Iraq

these media whores were more than happy to help the evil bastards at the helm in creating so much hate toward any and all Middle Easterners, and did nothing to show the pain and suffering of the Iraqi civilians. And then went on to build support for the WH interlopers by repeating the lies about why Iraq, and the Middle East at large, "needs" our kind of freedom, all at the expense of our troops, our infra/superstructure and our economy, and most of all, the innocents.

So, what has changed? Not much, in my opinion. I don't believe CNN has suddenly become a compassionate supportor of humanitarian efforts.

I hate all the suffering, the deaths of all the citizens, made so by the PNAC/BushCo touch, either directly or indirectly, and a congress that still will not take a united stand against in choosing peace over war. :grr:

[colorado_ufo]

9. "Shock and Awe," Israeli style.

I could vomit.

[LostinVA]

6. Gosh, look at those Hezzie terrorists

Glad to know Israel is defending herself against those evil suicide bombers totally minding their own business and trying to live their own lives. Yay Israel! One more down! You sure told them! You have 'em on the run now!

This is totally starting to make me sick. The slaughter in the ME has for decades... but watching our own government smirk and allow this -- even give arms for it -- OMG.

[acmavm]

8. Smirk & Co. are trying to get all the killing in that they can

before November. They're afraid that they might lose control and someone will put an end to their fun.

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Those People Were Complicit Because They Didn't Leave

when they were told.

At least according to Al Dershowitz who also says some civilian casualties are more tragic than others :eyes:

[LostinVA]

12. OH.MY.GOD.

[ehrnst]

11. As a mother - this whole situation is just eating at my soul.

I see these children, and see my own 3 year old son asleep in his bed, and I shudder to think that those families once thought they were safe.

And they aren't.

I cannot imagine what this mother was going through looking at her son, covered with blood, and thinking "Why could I not protect us? What if I die? Who will care for my boy"

GOD!!!:banghead: