For five years, the United States military has been waging a campaign to bring peace and stability to Iraq, a nation torn by war, sectarian violence, political divisions and terrorist mercenaries from across the Mideast.

We’ve seen five years of lows: the roadside bombs; terrified kidnap victims paraded before TV cameras; Fallujah; almost 4,000 dead American soldiers and thousands more Iraqi civilians. And also the highs: the flush of victory amid images of toppled statues of Saddam Hussein, later executed; purple fingers of Iraqis voting for the first time; and in the last year, the turning of the tide against al-Qaida and other insurgents, and a slow progression toward a peaceful outcome.

Through it all, military and political experts here and worldwide have agreed that success in Iraq would be based not just on military victories but by winning over the hearts and minds of Iraqis. After numerous mistakes and miscalculations, that appears to finally be happening.

And a Gainesville Marine has done more than his share to make that happen.

Last week, Maj. Kevin Jarrard, a Marine Corps Reserves officer from Hall County in his second tour of duty in Iraq, saw a father reunited with his daughter after she received a life-saving operation in the U.S.

Jarrard and his unit, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines, had come across 2-year-old Amenah Al-Bayati in Haditha City. She suffered from a serious heart defect and needed surgery to grow up normally. So they raised some $30,000 and arranged to have her sent to Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., where she received the operation on Feb. 11.

Last week, she returned home to the loving arms of her father as Jarrard looked on. Her long-term prognosis, once shaky, now is bright.

"I suppose when you look at little Amenah, you think about what’s possible," Jarrard told Times reporter Stephen Gurr last weekend. "Not necessarily what has been in the past, but what may be in the future."

In his time spent in Iraq, Jarrard has encountered the kind of violent danger that has been a part of every soldier’s time in Iraq. But whatever else he does there, the key accomplishment for which he will be best remembered is to extend a hand in friendship to an Iraqi family and help give them their daughter’s life.

An American hand.

Jarrard says that bright future now is possible for all residents of Haditha City.

"It’s been very peaceful for the time I’ve been here," he said. "There’s lots of progress being made. The folks seem happy; the economy is rolling along at a pretty good clip; we’re doing a lot of rebuilding there."

Jarrard, 35, is a history teacher at Riverside Military Academy and son of a prominent North Hall family with four children of his own. When he returns to our community this summer after his latest tour is done, he can take solace in knowing that for every life that was lost in Iraq, the recovery of Amenah will help tilt the balance sheet back toward life. Whatever medals he earns in his service, he will wear no decoration more proudly.

Jarrard’s effort wasn’t the first of its kind in Iraq by a Gainesville-based military unit. Members of Charlie Co., 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Brigade National Guard, based in Gainesville, arranged to have a young Iraqi nicknamed Baby Noor sent to Atlanta in 2005 to have life-saving surgery for a tumor in her back. She now is growing up in Iraq and trying to regain a normal life.

Our soldiers have proven they are more than just steely-eyed, combat-hardened dogs of war. They also have big hearts, and they understand that military victories need to be followed by humanitarian efforts. They are working to convince Iraqis that our way of life, as embodied by our men and women in uniform, provides a chance at freedom, compassion and hope for the future. They are doing it one family and one small child at a time.

We salute Jarrard, the members of his unit and the Charlie Company soldiers whose efforts helped give life and hope to two Iraqi youngsters. We’re proud to call them our own, as Hall Countians, Georgians and Americans.

And we hope their return home when victory is assured will be just as joyous as the homecomings they offered the families of those two little girls.