Not just another statistic

Over the years, I've exchanged emails with several people who have worked or lived in Iraq. Last summer, one young man from Iraq sent me a picture of his niece who stills lives, I assume, in Baghdad. She is about the same age as my grandson.

I think of this young girl a lot and wonder if she is safe, and I wonder what will happen if we leave Iraq too soon. John Burns of the New York Times recently gave his opinion on that.

Here is one face of the future of Iraq. I hope she is able to grow into a beautiful young woman.

Update: By coincidence, I just ran across a blog entry that as of Monday, the child was safe and talking to her uncle on the telephone. In the interest of protecting the identity of the child, I won't link to the post. It makes me glad to read that she is OK.