Columnist John Ringo tells of bureaucratic stupidity in the State Department and INS that is dooming children to a short, cruel, hellish life.

JUST before Christmas, a dozen happy American families were ready to bring a group of newly adopted kids home from Cambodia - when the U.S. government stepped in and aborted the adoptions on spurious charges of slavery.

I heard about it because one of the parents caught in the blender is a colleague. But every American ought to care. For one thing, the war we're in is going to be showing us pictures of orphans on a daily basis and figuring out how to manage them is going to matter. But even more important, this story tells us that key people in the U.S. government think it's better for a child to die in Cambodia than be raised in Akron.

In parts of the Third World children, mostly female, are sold by their families to slave traders. Others are stolen or simply dumped as too expensive to feed. Most end up in brothels, mines or sweat shops. A few end up in orphanages, who then pass them on to people from the First World who are desperate for children.

Many Americans go overseas to adopt children. This is a good thing, giving these children a shot at the American dream, and many infertile couples children to love.

The sad thing is that so many abortions occur in the U.S., when there are so many couples who sometimes spend years waiting to adopt a child.

All of God's children have worth. All are a treasure.

Children in the United States should not be brutally "aborted." And children overseas should not be sold into slavery. But in this fallen world, these things happen. There is no reason for the U.S. government to bar American families from adopting these children and giving them a chance at a better life.