[Calpernia]

Operation Thunder Goodwill

An Iraqi girl holds a beanie baby and a handbill given to her by Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 4th Public Order Brigade during Operation Thunder Goodwill in Horajeb Aug. 17. The POB Soldiers teamed up with elements of 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment.

[Calpernia]

As part of a U.S. and Iraqi stability and support operation, several truck loads of humanitarian assistance rolled out from a forward operating base in southern Baghdad to provide Horajeb residents with basic food items, medical supplies, and recreational items Aug. 17.

Two transport trucks left before dawn, as a 29-vehicle convoy passed through the southernmost limit of the Al Rashid district, and made its way along streets with names like Toyota, Chicken, and Bulls that the U.S. Army has named to help guide American soldiers through the often sign-less streets they have become so familiar with over here.

[McGavin999]

I'll bet the Iraqi soldiers loved being a part of that. Most of them were raised in abject poverty themselves, and now here they are handing out largess to their own people.