WASHINGTON, 16 October 2004 — Shortly after the second Kerry/Bush debate, we received an e-mail from a passionate concerned American friend. He said, “Please advise and ask Sen. Kerry to stop saying ‘KILL’ the terrorists. First this is not presidential language. Second he sounds like ‘wild west Bush’ and third it is beginning to be reflective of our society that just going out and ‘killing’ is okay.” He went on to say that if a Middle Eastern leader used such language, they would be condemned for it.

With all of this talk of “killing”, we would like to focus instead on some people and organizations that are treating life as sacred, as it should be. In the Middle East, two extraordinary health care organizations focus on saving the lives of children in need. And in Memphis, Tennessee, two remarkable organizations exist which are both devoted to saving the lives of children who would surely die without their assistance. All four of these organizations provide their lifesaving health care at no charge to the recipient children or their families.

In Saudi Arabia, while the last Iraq war was still in progress, a Saudi medical military team established field hospital facilities to treat trauma cases. While treating the wounded, they were contacted by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh and asked if they could provide assistance in arranging to bring Iraqi children with cancer to the King Faisal Children’s Cancer Center in Riyadh for treatment.

After many years of war and the use of chemical and depleted uranium materials in Iraq, there is a very high incidence of childhood cancer throughout Iraq. With most of the hospitals closed and the emphasis on trauma injuries, these children had no place to be treated in Iraq.

The Saudi medical military team obliged King Faisal Hospital and since that time numerous Iraqi children and their families have been transported to Riyadh for treatment. This work continues.

Memphis Tennessee is the home of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. St. Jude is the premier children’s cancer hospital and research center in the world. It was founded by the Arab-American comedian and entertainer, Danny Thomas. Danny also established the American Syrian Lebanese Associated Charities, ALSAC, which is the fund raising arm of St. Jude. Bylaws state that the boards of St. Jude and ALSAC must be composed of at least 80 percent of people of Arab origin.

St. Jude has helped establish children’s cancer centers all over the world and has assisted with children’s cancer projects in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon Morocco and Egypt. St. Jude and ALSAC are currently working with the National Cancer Institute in the US and the various children’s cancer centers in the Middle East to help rebuild Iraq’s childhood cancer treatment facilities and infrastructure so that countries like Saudi Arabia and Jordan, who are currently treating Iraqi children inside their own countries, can look to the future where Iraq itself will be able to treat their own children again.

Memphis is also the home of the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Its founder, Dr. Bill Novick and this organization travel all over the world treating children’s heart disease on the spot. Dr. Novick and his largely volunteer crew have performed heart surgery on hundreds of children in many countries. Dr. Novick has traveled to the Middle East and has assisted extensively in children’s heart surgery throughout Central Asia. The Children’s Heart Foundation and Dr. Novick are featured in the Oscar-winning movie, “Chernobyl Heart” which focuses on their work in Belarus.

Finally, An American pediatric cardiac surgeon , Dr. Amranm Cohen, who was practicing in Israel noted that there were thousands of children in Arab countries, Africa, the countries of the old Soviet Union and Southeast Europe that had little or no treatment for children suffering from heart defects and disease.

To help answer the needs of these children, Dr. Cohen founded Save a Child’s Heart (SACH).

This organization also performs surgeries on children with heart disease and trains health care professionals to help in the process of identifying the sick children and eventually treating the milder cases. SACH has now saved over 1,100 children from 21 different countries. Many of these countries are Arab and Muslim. For example, SACH has treated 378 children from Palestine (20 percent of the total SACH cases), 142 children from Nigeria, 128 children from Zanzibar and numerous children from Jordan, Mauritania, Iraq and Kazakhstan.

Tragically, Dr. Amram Cohen passed away while on a trip to Africa in 2001. However, the work of SACH goes on and his parents travel the world seeking support for the very worthwhile work of SACH.

When one realizes that organizations like the before mentioned devote their time and resources to saving lives, particularly in the Middle East, we are saddened to continue to hear the rhetoric of President Bush and Sen. Kerry calling for the taking of more lives. Hopefully, though, good works will prevail and eventually, the new president of the United States will note these good works and return to the sacred principles of the sanctity of life and the rule of law.

— Dr. Michael Saba is the author of “The Armageddon Network” and is an international relations consultant.