Mark Kennedy: “I believe there is a dramatically different face, and I would like to describe it to the Members. In a recent news…”

“I believe there is a dramatically different face, and I would like to describe it to the Members. In a recent news story, Lt. Riley Sharon, an Army emergency room charge nurse from St. Cloud, Minnesota, a city I am proud to represent, and a fellow alumnus from St. John's University, tells of incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison when it came under attack from mortars fired by insurgents, killing scores of prisoners and wounding hundreds of detainees. In one 4-hour period, insurgents killed 22 detainees and Lt. Sharbonno's group treated over 100 enemy detainee patients. At the time Sharbonno and his fellow soldiers were fighting to save the lives of those who might have gladly taken theirs, they were under such heavy fire, they had to wear a Kevlar helmet and a bullet-proof vest. As Lt. Sharbonno said, 'I am unaware of any military in the history of war that has built an entire hospital for the exclusive treatment of enemy detainees or POWs. I don't understand the media's insistence on ignoring the atrocities committed by anti-coalition forces or the amazing things that the military has accomplished over here.' The brave work of the likes of Lt. Sharbonno is the real face of this war.”