Noora was shot in the head by a US sniper. As her father writes, “On October 23, 2006, at 4 in the afternoon, American snipers positioned on a rooftop in my neighborhood started firing toward my car. My daughter Nora, a five-year-old child, was hit in the head. We rushed her to Heet General Hospital but she could not be treated there because the hospital lacked supplies and qualified doctors. We were forced to take her to Ninawa hospital, which is 600 kilometers north of my town. Two operations were performed in the Neurological Department. Then she was transferred to Ramadi General Hospital where two more operations were performed by a neurosurgeon.

“Nora lost bone in her skull and needs a prosthetic replacement. She also needs plastic surgery. These operations cannot be done in Iraq due to the terrible state of Iraq’s medical care system. If you can help us with this problem, please try…”

One of Nora’s medical reports reads, in part: “Nora sustained an explosive bullet injury to her head that smashed the skull bones and ruptured her cerebral membrane.” Such crimes against civilians are common and have fueled growing anger against the United States in much of the rest of the world. Yet coverage of the harm our violence inflicts on civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere is virtually non-existent in the mainstream American media.

NMV brought Noora to Maine for medical treatment in 2008; below is powerful coverage of her complicated treatment and recovery: