Now This is Mission Creep! And One Brave, Principled Florida Teen Doing Homework in Iraq

Trevor Bothwell at Democracy Project observes that an encounter between U.S. troops and an infant Iraqi girl born with a terrible defect demonstrates a fundamental truth about this country:

"Regardless of what you think about the Iraq war, it is indisputable that no nation in the history of the world has ever done as much as the United States when it comes to abiding by the rules of war, engaging the enemy with honor, minimizing civilian casualties, and doing just as much to rebuild countries as it did to destroy them. The moral compass of our country is directly reflected by the actions of our armed forces, and for that no country can be prouder."

Absolutely right. Go here for the rest of the story from Trevor and Michael Yon and CNN.

Then there is Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old from Ft. Lauderdale who got himself to Baghdad via Kuwait and enroute completed a classroom assignment for which he ought to get an A++. Michelle Malkin has more details here from Breitbart/AP and, as usual, an observation that gets to the Occamite point of the thing.