West Point To Take First Iraqi Cadet

bWest Point Academy is taking its first cadet from Iraq, a 19-year old who wants to serve his country after witnessing the terrorist violence in Baghdad.

The cadet asked that his name not be used, or his picture taken to spare his family from retribution.

NewsMax calls him Jameel for the interview.

"If you live in Iraq, you get this determination with everyone you see dying in front of your eyes and every child slaughtered," said Jameel, whose school in Iraq was once struck with an improvised explosive device.

"You are at risk when you're walking down the street," he said. "It's better to die holding a rifle than to die walking down the street as a civilian."

Jameel is taking one of fourteen slots reserved for foreign trainees, and will not take an opportunity away from an American cadet.

Jameel says his parents support his decision, and he risks his safety with daily trips to a U.S. military compound to complete the application process, and undertake a training regiment to get him ready for West Point basic training.

The young man wants to major in engineering and join the Iraqi military after he graduates, and hopes one day to meet President Bush, whom he and his family consider a hero for liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein.

I think that this is fabulous! It shows a bright young man willing to serve his newly forming country. This should be all over the MSM... But it won't be. I just don't understand why President Bush doesn't trumpet this, and stories like it, every time the MSM starts it' s cut and run, doom and gloom tactics!