Diary Prequel Package — page 91

Also, met Jim Haveman who is the USA Health person (also impressive). Jim was with us for most of the remainder of the trip in Iraq and Jordan. He thanked me for the books that I sent to Iraq from McGraw-Hill. Had lunch at the home of MOH Khudair Abbas. Present at the lunch was Dr. Ebrahim Al-Jafari, head of the Shiite Party and member of the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC)and Dr. Rajaa Khuzai a women OB/GYN physician and also member of the IGC. Had a very stimulating conversation regarding Iraqi politics, the history of Iraq medicine and how Iraq was the "jewel" of medical care and training in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. When Saddam came into power, he diverted money to weapons and neglected health. The system deteriorated and now it is terrible. They want to restore it. I also heard first hand of the cruelty and true insanity of Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusai and how they tortured and killed at will. Many of the people at lunch lived in exile or remained in Iraq, but had relatives who had been jailed, tortured or killed. The defining experience of the day was the visit to IBN Sina Hospital which is the combat (trauma) support hospital. I had to constantly hold back tears. Everyone carried a weapon in the hospital, even the doctors and nurses performing procedures in the OR or trauma rooms. I say young kids (18-25 yo soldiers) with bullet wounds in the face. Common wound is a cheek-through-cheek bullet that either kills the victim or goes right through without hitting vital structures. I am told that it is a common wound by snipers since the troops wear body armor up to their neck and a helmet down to their eyes. It is one of the few exposed parts. One such soldier was wheeled in as we were touring the hospital. He had just been shot. I say shattered legs, abdominal wounds and Iraqi citizens shot in cross-fire and Iraqi insurgents getting x-rayed with a special forces person pointing an M-4 at him in case he tried to escape. I saw an Iraqi collaborator who was helping the Special Forces in the North and another Iraqi came up to him when no one was around and shot him in the back of the head. The bullet miraculously went through one posterior jaw and exited the face. When taken to the hospital, he told the SF who the attacker was that left him for dead and the SF had just left the hospital to "take care of him". Many army physicians and nurses recognized me either from TV or more often from Harrison's. I ran into a young neurosurgeon - Major Koop who knew me from HPIM. Upon return to the airport via "ambush alley", the 2 main Humvees of the 4 that escorted us back had young women at the machine guns. I inquired about this to our SF driver and he said that as of this week, women soldiers have more confirmed kills than men soldiers. Upon take off, we had the same corkscrew maneuver, but this time 2 airmen were at each window with radio contact with the cockpit in case they saw puffs of smoke or flashes indicating a shoulder to air missile or Ak-47 , at which point they would alert the pilot to divert. Landed in Amman; we did not sleep at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad since it was recently attacked with rockets while Paul Wolfowitz was staying there. Had a marvelous dinner at the home of the Jordanian MOH - Dr, Said. S. Darwazah. Also present was our team (minus the press), plus the US Ambassador to Jordan (Edward W. "Skip" Gnehm), Dr. Samir Khleif, (NCI), Director of the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman and Said's brother Mazen and his father Samih. We talked for hours about the complex issues of Israel and Palestinians and Iraq and USA. It is clear that they want to live in peace with Israel, but they all feel that the USA in unfairly siding with Israel on not