Free Republic

On the Burmese side of the Moei River, the reality of the Burma Army attack was there for all to see. Where just a few weeks before had stood a thriving community with a church, school, houses, and clinic, there was now little more than ashes. The pastor came and sat next to me as we looked at the burned-out ruins of his church: a few charred bamboo pillars and some pews. A beam that once held up the roof now formed a cross, symbol of the people's suffering. In an operation that plays out regularly in eastern Burma, the...

They aren't used to quiet nights.After years in a cramped Burmese refugee camp, Ar Min Ro Dhin and his family were accustomed to the noise coming through their shelter's bamboo walls and floors, from the sounds of gunfire ricocheting to the voices of soldiers threatening to break into the camp."We were full of fear all the time, daytime and nighttime," Dhin, 36, said through a translator. "It was not very safe. We were worried about our future."Now, as Myanmar, also known as Burma, seethes with pro-democracy protests and violence, Dhin and his family are safe.Granted refuge in the United States,...