Iraqi Orphanage Nightmare

(CBS)  It was a scene that shocked battle-hardened soldiers, captured in photographs obtained exclusively by CBS News.

On a daytime patrol in central Baghdad just over than a week ago, a U.S. military advisory team and Iraqi soldiers happened to look over a wall and found something horrific.

"They saw multiple bodies laying on the floor of the facility," Staff Sgt. Mitchell Gibson of the 82nd Airborne Division told CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan. "They thought they were all dead, so they threw a basketball (to) try and get some attention, and actually one of the kids lifted up their head, tilted it over and just looked and then went back down. And they said, 'oh, they're alive' and so they went into the building."

Inside the building, a government-run orphanage for special needs children, the soldiers found more emaciated little bodies tied to the cribs. They had been kept this way for more than a month, according to the soldiers called in to rescue the 24 boys.

"I saw children that you could see literally every bone in their body that were so skinny, they had no energy to move whatsoever, no expression on their face," Staff Sgt. Michael Beale said.

"The kids were tied up, naked, covered in their own waste — feces — and there were three people that were cooking themselves food, but nothing for the kids," Lt. Stephen Duperre said.

Logan asked: So there were three people cooking their own food?

"They were in the kitchen, yes ma'am," Duperre said.

With all these kids starving around them?

"Yes ma'am," Duperre said.

It didn't stop there. The soldiers found kitchen shelves packed with food and in the stockroom, rows of brand-new clothing still in their plastic wrapping.

Instead of giving it to the boys, the soldiers believe it was being sold to local markets.

The man in charge, the orphanage caretaker, had a well-kept office — a stark contrast to the terrible conditions just outside that room.

"I got extremely angry with the caretaker when I got there," Capt. Benjamin Morales said. "It took every muscle in my body to restrain myself from not going after that guy."

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Find out how to help the orphans.
See the photos given to CBS News.

Watch extended video of Logan's interviews with the soldiers who rescued the orphans.

Read Lara Logan's reporter's notebook on this story.

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He has since disappeared and is believed to be on the run. But two security guards are in custody, arrested on the orders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Two women also working there, who posed for pictures in front of the naked boys as if there was nothing wrong, have also disappeared.

"My first thought when I walked in there was shock, and then I got a little angry that they were treating kids like that, then that's when everybody just started getting upset," Capt. Jim Cook said. "There were people crying. It was definitely a bad emotional scene."

There was nothing more emotional than finding one boy who Army medics did not expect to survive. For Gibson, that was the hardest part:

Seeing a boy who was at the orphanage, where Logan reported from, "with thousands of flies covering his body, unable to move any part of his body, you know we had to actually hold his head up and tilt his head to make sure that he was OK, and the only thing basically that was moving was his eyeballs," Gibson explained. "Flies in the mouth, in the eyes, in the nose, ears, eating all the open wounds from sleeping on the concrete."

All that, and the boy was laying in the boiling sun — temperatures of 120 degrees or so, according to Gibson.

Looking at the boy today, as he sits up in his crib without help, it is hard to believe he is the same boy, one week later — now clean and being cared for along with all the other boys in a different orphanage located only a few minutes away from where they suffered their ordeal.

Another little boy right shown in the photos was carried out of the orphanage by Beale. He was very emaciated.

"I picked him up and then immediately the kid started smiling, and as I got a little bit closer to the ambulance he just started laughing. It was almost like he completely understood what was going on," Beale said.

When CBS News visited the orphanage with the soldiers, it was clear the boys had been starved of human contact as much as anything else, Logan said. Some still had marks on their ankles from where they were tied. Since only one boy can talk, it's impossible to know what terrible memories they might have locked away.

The memory of what he saw when he helped rescue the boys that night haunts Ali Soheil, the local council head, who wept during the interview.

Later at the hospital, Lt. Jason Smith brushed teeth and helped clean up the boys. He and his wife are both special education teachers, and he was proud to tell her what the soldiers had done.

"She said that one day was worth my entire deployment," Smith said. "It makes the whole thing worthwhile."

This is a tough test for the Iraqi government: How a nation cares for its most vulnerable is one of the most important benchmarks for the health of any society.

[charlsport]

Some people commenting here are obviously too lazy to read prior comments. If they had, they might notice that Americans have expressed their views. As a proud American, I can say for sure that I have taken a hard look at my country, and I am sure it is slowly getting better as Bush and his gang of corporate thugs are one by one being brought to justice. I also hope that his complicit gang of military felons go with them. Doing whatever I can to stop Bush and his ilk from ruining the America I love, is one of the most positive experiences of my life.

[pusha0917]

This is an article about how children are suffering in Iraq - not about bashing the US or trying to glory seek by making yourself feel better about whatever other country you're from. Every country out there is guilty of doing something against humanity, or that caused the world to take a step back and think to themselves *** are they thinking?! So who ever is free of guilt or sin then you cast the first stone - until then take a look at yourself and your country - then take a look at the world and think about what you can do to make it better for someone else... even on the smallest scale. Bashing others is only contributing to the negativity and the degression of society. So, grow up people. Some good men were in Iraq and came to the aid of those in need and made their world a better place. This article is about doing for others, and bringing happiness to others and nothing else. There's no hidden war agenda in this article - those comments should be saved for a different one. Why can't you just enjoy a story with a happy ending?

[michaeluk1]

13. Enforcing an illegal boycott of Cuba, in the UN in October 2001, the General Assembly passed a resolution, for the tenth consecutive year, calling for an end to the US embargo, by a vote of 167 to 3 (the US, Israel, and the Marshall Islands in opposition).

14. Comprehensive [Nuclear] Test Ban Treaty. Signed by 164 nations but rejected by the Senate in 1999.
15. In 1986 the International Court of Justice (The Hague) ruled that the US was in violation of international law for "unlawful use of force" in Nicaragua, through its actions and those of its Contra proxy army. The US refused to recognize the Court's jurisdiction.
16. In 1984 the US quit UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and ceased its payments for UNESCO's budget,

17. Optional Protocol, 1989, to the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolition of the death penalty and containing a provision banning the execution of those under 18. The US has neither signed nor ratified and specifically exempts itself from the latter provision, making it one of five countries that still execute juveniles (with Saudi Arabia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria). China abolished the practice in 1997, Pakistan in 2000.

[michaeluk1]

6. Land Mine Treaty, banning land mines; signed in Ottawa in December 1997 by 122 nations. The United States refused to sign.
7. Kyoto Protocol of 1997, for controlling global warming: declared "dead" by President Bush in March 2001.
8. In May 2001, refused to meet with European Union nations to discuss, even at lower levels of government, economic espionage and electronic surveillance of phone calls, e-mail, and faxes (the US "Echelon" program),

9. Refused to participate in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development May 2001, on ways to crack down on off-shore and other tax and money-laundering havens.

10. Refused to join 123 nations pledged to ban the use and production of anti-personnel bombs and mines, February 2001

11. September 2001: withdrew from International Conference on Racism, bringing together 163 countries in Durban, South Africa

12. International Plan for Cleaner Energy: G-8 group of industrial nations (US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, UK), July 2001: the US was the only one to oppose it.

[michaeluk1]

Well Gene I have to say that I find the American traits of ignorance and arrogance to be quite unappealing, little wonder more American tourists in Europe are pretending to be Canadians. Doesn't the US still have capital punishment, doesn't the USA have the largest prison population in the world?
It's total nonsense to suggest that the USA is a force for good in the world, you've deliberately subverted elected democratic governments and replaced them with military dictators.
This is the USA's record since 2001, it doesn't make very good reading does it? Would you like some more, I have 25 in total?
1. In December 2001, the United States officially withdrew from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty
2. 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention At Geneva in November 2001, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton stated that "the protocol is dead,"
3. UN Agreement to Curb the International Flow of Illicit Small Arms, July 2001: the US was the only nation to oppose it.

4. April 2001, the US was not reelected to the UN Human Rights Commission, after years of withholding dues to the UN (including current dues of $244 million)The US stood virtually alone in opposing resolutions supporting lower-cost access to HIV/AIDS drugs.
5)International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, try political leaders and military personnel charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Approved by 120 countries, with 7 opposed (including the US).

[dautry3]

I still tell people that I never met an unkind person the entire time I was in your country, I was so amazed to not find one irritable, unkind rude person in all the encounters I had. And now, sadly, there is you, obviously a deviant, angry, hostile unhappy jaded individual, who is also ignorant about the United States and world affairs, with your narrow twisted sense of reality. But you obviously do not represent your country today, in any way whatsoever. Our ancestors left there for the best of all reasons, to be able to speak against the "king", as I do, without having my head cut off. Michael, your country would have taken off your head a hundred years ago. Mine would not have done such a thing. Mine would have saved your pathetic sorry backside and given you a place to live so you could continue to leech off the government.

[michaeluk1]

Aid per capita coming from the USA is just about the lowest in the "Western World". Even then most of the aid the USA gives is tied to trade or arms deals, apart from Israel of course.
In fact the USA has been relying on credit from the rest of the world for at least 30 years, currently your trade deficit runs at about $60 billion a month, you are now over $8 trillion in debt.
As for fighting for my freedom, being British, that's nonsense. Britain paid a far higher price for example in WW2 both in the terms of manpower and financial cost. I seem to remember that the USA made good business out of it, just ask Bush's grandfather. Even then you were dragged screaming into the conflict when both Japan and Germany declared war on you. But not to worry, I realise that the American's knowledge of WW2 comes more from Hollywood than reality.
The world would be a far safer and peaceful place if the USA never even existed. Perhaps it's our fault though, a high proportion of the original settlers sent from here were convicts, perhaps it's in the DNA?

[dautry3]

Most Americans are generally horrified by the Bush Administration but we continue to pour billions of dollars into disasters worldwide, liberating countries, stopping nuclear disasters, communisism, Nazism, and deadly dictators. We rebuilt Japan, Germany and France who are economically rich today because of our taxpayers money. We have been fighting for our freedom and yours for two hundred years sacrificing our children and fathers. Where would the world be, if we did not exist? The world ignored Tibet, and an entire country vanished. So until you are pouring out your blood and guts and money, you have no right to stand in judgement of us.

[michaeluk1]

The US seems to think it has world rights on designating who are "terrorists" or not. In their view anyone that resists their aggression are terrorists/Taliban/insurgents or Al Qaeda.
The de-stabilisation of Iraq was a deliberate act right from the start, almost immediately after the illegal invasion was accomplished the USA allowed 4 real "terrorist" groups to return to Iraq.
1. The Iraqi National Congress (INC) led by the indicted conman Ahmed Chalabi. 2. The Iraqi National Accord (INA) led by Iyad Allawi, the U.S./Britain most preferred %u2018strongman%u2019 because of his criminal past. Both groups constitute of Iraqi expatriates (including ex-Ba%u2019athists), trained and armed by the U.S. and Britain. 3. The Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Da%u2019awa/SCIRI religious 'parties' led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Nuri al-Maliki. 4. The Kurdish militia (the Peshmerga) led by opportunist warlords which are trained and armed by the U.S. and Israel.
Now of course to keep the cauldron boiling the US is now supporting Sunni groups. although the puppet government is Shiaa led.

[michaeluk1]

It is a daily event in both Afghanistan and Iraq and it's all about de-populating both. It's time us Europeans did something about EU taxpayer's money funding NATO in order to support American plans of world domination and hegemony.

Jun 22, 5:16 AM EDT

Police: 25 Afghan Civilians Killed
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHANISTAN?SITE=WSPATV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-22-04-57-46


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Friday.

NATO responded by calling in airstrikes, which killed 20 suspected militants, but also 25 civilians, including nine women, three babies and the mullah of a local mosque, he said.