Home > Georgians@War > Archives > 2007 > February > 28 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBaby Noor in the midst of war
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Louie Favorite
Noor al-Zahra, known to most Atlantans as Baby Noor, is held by her grandmother, Soad, in Baghdad's Green Zone.
Baghdad, Iraq - Inside the medical office of the Iraqi National Assistance Center, the grandmother unravels a school-bus yellow piece of paper containing the results of her granddaughter’s latest medical examination.
A doctor reads the report as the baby, Noor al-Zahra, dressed in a red and beige Barbie outfit, howls.
The smile that captured hearts in Atlanta cannot be coaxed — not even with a fuzzy, pink teddy bear that a soldier drops by.
Baby Noor, as she has become known, is cranky and unwell.
“I don’t know what to do,” her grandmother, Soad, says through a translator. “Noor feels good one week and bad the next.”
Born with a severe spinal cord defect, Noor caught the attention of Georgia Army National Guard soldiers who plucked her from impoverished Abu Ghraib and flew her to Atlanta.
Doctors at Children’s Healthcare gave Noor the treatment the family could not access in Iraq. A tumor-like growth on her back was removed, a shunt placed in her head to prevent fluid buildup.
The Iraqi baby who had little chance at life was miraculously given one. That single act of humanitarianism in the midst of war gained Noor instant celebrity.
Now, more than a year after she was discovered, her life has lost some of its luster. Out of the media spotlight, she is once again just one of thousands of Iraqi children in need of care that’s often difficult to find.
On this day, Dr. Ali (his full name, like that of Noor’s family members, is withheld for security reasons), says Noor has a urinary tract infection that is causing bouts of fever and making her belly swell. Given her circumstances, he urges her grandmother to make an appointment to have a scan done of Noor’s brain. He had asked for the scan on Soad’s previous visit to the center last fall.
Soad explains the wait for an appointment at a public hospital near her home was very long. Baghdad’s widening sectarian divide has limited where she can take Noor for medical care. She tells Dr. Ali she has no money to go to a private clinic.
Soad says the doctors who were asked by her Atlanta sponsors to examine Noor on a regular basis are no longer around. Dr. Ali says many doctors have fled Iraq or resettled in safer areas in the northern part of the country.
He has thought about doing the same but is still here because he works in the relative safety of the heavily fortified area of Baghdad known as the “Green Zone.”
Dr. Ali and his staff coordinate medical care for Iraqi children with foreign humanitarian associations like Childspring International, which sponsored Noor’s trip to Atlanta last year. So far, the Iraqi assistance center has sent 120 children abroad. Some have cleft palates, nervous tissue damage or congenital heart problems. Ali knows Noor was lucky to have come face-to-face with soldiers who were able to rescue her quickly.
“It’s her fate,” he says. But Dr. Ali also knows Noor’s life is a health challenge multiplied manifold in Iraq’s difficult conditions.
As Noor sits in her grandmother’s lap, a woman on the center’s staff compliments Noor’s lacy, white espadrilles. They are a gift from her Atlanta sponsor, Nancy Turner, who has tried to stay in touch with the family. But Noor’s feet don’t move. Nor do her legs. The doctors have told Soad from the beginning that even with the best surgery and care, her granddaughter will probably have to use a wheelchair.
As she gets older, Noor wants to play with other children. But Soad has noticed that Noor now gets agitated when she can’t make move like the other children do.
Soad is weary from carrying Noor —- now almost 18 months old and big for her age. She eats solid food, and is particularly fond of potatoes, rice and stew and, of course, cookies. Soad wants one day to get her a motorized wheelchair.
Again, Dr. Ali presses Soad to have Noor’s brain scanned.
“Noor can live,” he says. “She needs medical consultation. It all depends on the family.”
Noor’s cries echo through the hallways between the metal shipping containers that serve as the assistance center’s offices. Soad collects her things and walks toward a security checkpoint that demarcates the Green Zone from the rest of Baghdad.
Noor’s father, Haider, is waiting on the other side. He was barred from entering because his passport expired and he lacks sufficient identification.
On the way, Soad lets out a torrent of frustration. She says her family has paid a price for their American connections.
She says her shop at Abu Ghraib market was bombed last summer and that the owners of the space hounded her for money.
Her elder son Bashar has been detained by the U.S. military for months. Soad goes to see him periodically but says she does not know the charges against him. Haider was abducted and released twice after the family paid the ransom, she says. They do not know the identity of his kidnappers.
Out of fear, the family left their Abu Ghraib home. Now Haider rarely ventures out. He has no income.
Soad asks if anyone can help Haider and his family emigrate — to Jordan, to the United States. She wants them to live anywhere but here.
Noor plays with a color photograph of her brother Karrar, born in July.
Their mother, Iman, took the healthy baby boy and returned to be with her parents in Abu Ghraib. Soad worries that Noor, who was separated from Iman during her six months in Atlanta, may grow up not knowing her mother.
Soad approaches the heavily guarded checkpoint. She is relieved to give up the weight of the child to Haider.
Noor, who is beginning to talk, can say her father’s name.
As military choppers swarm overhead, Haider covers his daughter’s delicate ears to shield her from the noise. Despite the difficulties, he says, the family will not give up on Noor.
“The terrorists don’t know that I went to America for my baby,” he says.
He marches out of the checkpoint, his mother behind him, his baby in his arms. Noor, oblivious to the uncertainty in this violent city and in her own future, flashes her captivating smile. This time, there is no one to come to the rescue.
Cox Correspondent Larry Kaplow contributed to this story.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Moni Basu
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By heart goes out...
February 28, 2007 5:04 PM | Link to this
It’s the Ameircan way to want to help someone having a difficult time, and at the time it was seen as good PR. It’s also a reality that we have spent years now conducting a social experiment in the Middle East with mixed results. I feel for this little one and her family but perhaps we should have left well enough alone - the Iraqis themselves are philosophical about these things and accept it as “the will of Allah.” Our way of life just may not be right for this part of the world.
By Angie
February 28, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was SICK and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:25-26
By jack
February 28, 2007 6:33 PM | Link to this
Common we want to hear more about Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole’s body and how much we should spend our retarded dog.
By concernedcitizen
February 28, 2007 7:03 PM | Link to this
*By Angie
February 28, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was SICK and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:25-26*
This is great if it is applied equitably amongst the citizens of this country as well. Unfortunately it is not.
By Lynn
February 28, 2007 7:53 PM | Link to this
To: By concernedcitizen
February 28, 2007 7:03 PM | Link to this
Have you applied this practice to citizens equally. Angie is just reminding us; this is what we are called to do.
We all have problems, sometimes ours do not seem as bad when we help others with worse problems…and there are always worse out there.
By concernedcitizen
February 28, 2007 8:39 PM | Link to this
To: Lynn
Angie did remind us of what we’re called to do…but aren’t we called to help the less fortunate in our OWN land before we go reaching to help others abroad? Just as you asked me the same can be asked of you as well. My point is this, in case it gets lost because I didn’t drop a tear and write a check the minute I read Angie’s post, we have plenty of misfortunes and poor conditions here (and yes they pale in comparison to many) but yet we will step over the bum on the street in front of us to give a helping hand up to the one across the street first. I just think something is wrong when we stretch out our hands to help many people who DO NOT live here yet quickly, and rather easily, dismiss the problems in our own backyard as trivial.
By Alvin Finklestein
February 28, 2007 10:08 PM | Link to this
We all have wondered about baby noor. And in the end…she, like our intentions, our hopes, even our compassion; a metaphor for for all of that and this conflict.
The care provided, wonderful as it was…so fleeting.
This story is a first class follow up on this child and the story at large. I look forward to more stories…I know you will find them as you’ve done.
After all…Iraq represents more than IEDs, downed helicopters, policy, politico’s and the like.
Thank you Ms Basu
By rid0617
March 1, 2007 12:57 AM | Link to this
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was SICK and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:25-26*
As soon as I see this policy applied equally in the United States I will care about someone in another country. In this country I was sick, too bad you don’t have insurance and medicaid has been cut back, I was hungry, food stamps are being cut back because if immigrants showing up getting them, I was cold, too bad oil companies want their profit.
By bubba27
March 1, 2007 7:26 AM | Link to this
I have been praying for Baby Noor. God bless our soldiers. rid0617, you sound disgruntal, but the services provided to Baby Noor were essentially free by the church, volunteers, and minimal govt expense.
I was sick also, had HTN, had no insurance because of HTN (high blood pressure), and went to the free clinic. No or low income, they will serve you. You were hungry like me, the state and federal government provides services plus many non-profit agencies. Bread and water last along time also.
I did that for months. immigration and oil, blame both democrates and republicans. Both have been bought off by lobbist.
By LauryT
March 1, 2007 8:03 AM | Link to this
I’m sorry, I’d comment on the points some of you people are trying to make, but I’m still trying to decipher your atrocious spelling and syntax errors.
Noor’s situation is heartbreaking, but common. We stick our noses in other peoples’ business, cram OUR way of fixing things down their throats, then walk away with the deluded notion that it’s now fine and will stay that way.
By Eric
March 1, 2007 11:13 AM | Link to this
Great picture! I believe it is Louie who made the picture, not “Louis.”
By Nina
March 1, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this
I read through the comments here and it strikes me that the most beautiful things that we do can be made into something ugly by others.
What does it matter what country the little girl is from? Doesn’t it matter that we know a soul is suffering and we have the power to do something about it??
I always wonder what those who worry most about our “country” will do when they meet their maker. Do you really think in the infinite universe that the USA will really be a big deal?
I thought the USA stood for the rights of the individual to life, liberty and happiness. I never thought we meant that only for ourselves.
By TheyNeedHelp
March 1, 2007 2:19 PM | Link to this
EVERYONE should read the book “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. It’s an amazing book that focuses on life in the Middle East (specifically in Iran)… Gives you an in-depth look at the culture and daily life over there —- it’s a great read too! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
By John
March 2, 2007 7:42 AM | Link to this
The Baby Noor thing was amusing. Don’t get me wrong, I love babies and was happy to see this one getting help here in America, but come on, the reality of this little case (and the media hype around it) is that it was mostly just feel-good baloney. America helped this one Iraqi baby and busily patted itself on the back for it, while thousands more Iraqi babies and children were being maimed and blown to bits by American ordnance paid for by American tax $, and of course orchestrated by our fearless leader, President Chipmunk
By Tony
March 3, 2007 4:08 PM | Link to this
I’m one of the soldiers who helped Noor in Iraq. Just to put some of the reader’s concerns to rest about the (insert sarcasm)horrid act of helping a foreign child, let me share some more info with you. First, you may be disgusted to know that the soldiers who helped Noor also helped several other sick and lame Iraqis. It will comfort you to know, however, those same soldiers also secured and rescued several American soldiers in a downed helicopter. Rescued on at least 8 occasions, Civilian American contractors on the streets of Baghdad who had come under enemy fire. Rescued, countless times, American Soldiers whose vehicle was impaired due to IED strikes. Interrupted an ambush on an American supply convoy near Abu Ghraib, taking out 3 ambush positions and 19 insurgents. Loaded the bodies of 10 Americans who crashed in a helicopter into body bags. Loaded many wounded Americans onto helicopters to be evac’d from the combat zone. As a soldier in the GA National Guard for the past 17 years I, and many of those same soldiers who rescued the Iraqi baby, have rescued many Americans in North Georgia, our own backyard, during our Blizzard in ‘93. Helped many Americans in South Georgia during the flood in ‘94. Secured the streets of Atlanta during the Rodney King riots and the 96 Olympics. I could go on with a list of responses to storms, prison riots, MLK day marches, but hopefully you get the point. We serve where we are called to serve and do what it takes to get the mission done wherever we may be. And you sit on your couch and watch it on TV…then complain it wasn’t done to your satisfaction.
By Cindy
March 4, 2007 9:10 AM | Link to this
Thank you, Tony for reminding us of the things our soldiers do that never make it to the media. For all the soldiers in Iraq and here at home, your efforts are appreciated.