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Media Alert from No More Victims - <http://www.nomorevictims.org> www.nomorevictims.org Alaa Khalid Hamdan MEDIA ALERT November 25, 2005 Contact: Ashley Severance - (321) 409-8653 Cole Miller - (323) 445-6701 Alan Pogue - (512) 423-9812 WHAT: Injured three-year-old Iraqi girl arriving in Orlando from Al Qaim, Iraq WHERE: Orlando International Airport, Terminal 4, Delta Air Lines # 2095 WHEN: 1:05 AM OVERVIEW Alaa Khalid Hamdan, a 3-year-old Iraqi girl who urgently needs surgery to remove micro-shrapnel from her eye to avoid the risk of permanent blindness, arrives in Orlando on November 26, 2005. Alaa was injured in ongoing violence in Al Qaim, an Iraqi city near the Syrian border. A tank round struck the familys home on May 3, 2005. Two of Alaas brothers, and three of her cousins, all young children, were killed. Alaa miraculously survived. Ashley Severance, a 22-year-old law student from Melbourne, Florida, worked intensively for several months to secure pro-bono medical treatment for Alaa and accommodations for the family while Alaa undergoes medical treatment. Ashley has a 3-year-old daughter of her own, and concern for Alaas eyesight and physical well-being prompted her to pursue this humanitarian mission, modeled after two missions to Iraq to bring children to the United States for medical treatment organized by Cole Miller and Alan Pogue, co-founders of NoMoreVictims.org. Miller, who helped to organize and fund the effort to get medical treatment for Alaá, hopes this third effort will serve as a model and inspire other communities to assist injured Iraqi children. Alan Pogue, a documentary photographer from Austin, Texas, is accompanying Alaa and her father to the United States. This is Alans third trip to the Middle East to help war-injured Iraqi children. The offices of Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Barbara Boxer (D-California), and Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Jim McDermott (D-Washington), and Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), helped make Alaas medical treatment possible by sending letters of support to the U.S. Embassy/Amman. PRESS: Members of the press interested in covering the arrival of Alaa and her family and/or other aspects of the story: the struggle to secure the safe passage of the family from war-torn Al Qaim to Amman, Jordan, the medical care Alaa will now receive, the attack which injured Alaa and killed two of her siblings, and how participants hope this medical relief initiative may serve to help other injured Iraqi children, are invited to call Cole Miller at 323-445-6701 Email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] or Ashley Severance at 321-409-8653. Alan Pogue - 512-423-9812 will be available for interviews upon his arrival from Amman. ######## Orlando Holds Hope for Young War Victim The 2-year-old Iraqi girl will get treatment thanks to a network of compassion. Rich Mckay | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted November 27, 2005 PHOTOS <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-girlpic112705,0,6124191.photo> Alaa Abd Alaa <http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-girlpic112705,0,6124191.photo> Abd (JULIE FLETCHER/ORLANDO SENTINEL) Nov 27, 2005 Tiny shrapnel bits pepper the left side of 2-year-old Alaa' Abd's face, looking at first glance like black freckles. Metal slivers in her left eye have left her with little vision, and each day she sees less. In hopes of restoring her sight, Alaa' and her father arrived Saturday in Orlando, where she will be seen this week by an eye specialist. Alaa' became one of the faces of the Iraq war in May when, her family says, a U.S. tank shell burst inside their home, blinding the child and rending her flesh from head to toe. The explosion killed two of her brothers and three cousins. The children, all younger than 10, were having a tea party. Now Alaa' (pronounced Ah-LAH) has a chance of regaining her sight thanks to the Orlando eye surgeon, a local college student who wouldn't take no for an answer and the group NoMoreVictims.org that tries to get medical help for the war's youngest victims. "By God's will, my daughter will see," Khalid Hamdan Abd, a 27-year-old carpenter, said through interpreter Najla Abu-Shaaban. Father and daughter are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Orlando, where they were settling in Saturday after a harrowing trip from their home near the war-torn city of Qaim, not far from the Syrian border. The area is a hot spot for insurgents and foreign fighters in western Iraq's Al Anbar province. The U.S. military recently moved thousands of troops and firepower into the area in a bid to root out the insurgents. "We can only hope that there will be peace," Abd said. "We thank all the organizations and Americans who are helping [with his daughter]. But at the same time, we want people to know the truth." Abd was out looking for work so that he could buy food for his family on the day of the attack. He found his daughter buried beneath the rubble, near the bodies of his sons. Her wounds were so severe that at first doctors told the distraught father there was nothing they could do. They explained that they did not want to waste precious bandages on someone certain to die. But Alaa' defied the odds and lived. An Iraqi doctor finally agreed to perform basic surgery on the wounds, which included shrapnel shards embedded from top to toe. Help came when NoMoreVictims.org, started by Cole Miller, a Los Angeles freelance writer and documentary photographer, and Vietnam veteran Alan Pogue asked Iraqi doctors for the names of children they could help. As a result, the story of Alaa' appeared on their Web site, where it was seen by Barry University School of Law student Ashley Severance, 22, of Orlando. "I had to help," she said Saturday. "If that happened here, I would only hope that someone would help my child." Miller told her to find a doctor, a hospital and a place for the family to stay. He explained that the family would also need special visas to leave Iraq and visit the United States and money to travel and live on. "I've lost count at how many times people told me no," Severance said. "I made phone call after phone call after phone call." Severance finally reached Dr. Saad Shaikh with Central Florida Retina, who agreed to do the surgery at no charge. He could not be reached for comment Saturday, but Severance said Shaikh got an Orlando hospital to provide a bed and an operating room for free. Severance did not identify the hospital at the request of its officials. The next hurdle was to raise the money to get Alaa' and her father out of Iraq. Her mother, who is pregnant, was unable to get a visa and had to stay behind. After a journey across the desert to neighboring Jordan, the Abd family reached the American Embassy, which arranged further help and signed off on three-month visas allowing them to enter the United States. Alaa' misses her mother and cries often. But Abd said they must do everything they can to save her sight, however little. They expect to meet with the surgeon Wednesday and will probably be here until early next year, giving Alaa' time to recover from the procedure. Abd said that no one has taken responsibility for the deaths and injuries. He said he is convinced it was the Americans because "they were the only ones there [with that firepower]." A Department of Defense news release about the events of that day describes a firefight with a truckload of terror suspects in Qaim and noted that a female child was wounded. No other details were provided. Abd said that although he thinks Americans killed and wounded his children, he is happy to be in the United States, where he can get help for his daughter. The road ahead is uncertain, and Abd worries about what will happen to his family in Iraq while he is away. "Hopefully, we will have a home," he said. "We can't tell at all what the future will be." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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