Clinging To Life In A Baghdad Orphanage

Lara Logan Reflects On The Bagdad Orphanage Where Boys Where Malnourished And Abused

(CBS)  By CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan

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If you find it hard to look at the photograph of the young Iraqi boy covered in flies, lying half-starved and near death on the concrete floor of a "special needs orphanage" in central Baghdad, then think about this:

One of the American soldiers who came to rescue this boy told me that before they took that picture, they waved thousand of flies off his fragile, bleeding body.

"It was much worse before," the soldier said to me. "When we found him he was black with flies."

There were hundreds in his open mouth. They were crawling out of his nose and ears and anywhere they could feed on his flesh and bloody, open sores, in what appeared to be the last few hours of his life.

The medics did not think he could be saved.

But he was. Not only did the 82nd Airborne and civil affairs soldiers save his life, he was released from a hospital a few days later, well enough to continue his recovery in a different orphanage, where the care was remarkably better.

What's so strange about this story is that the caretaker in charge of the orphanage where 24 handicapped boys were abused beyond belief was also a psychologist and worked at another respected orphanage for a long time. The staff there confessed to being shocked and saddened when they saw these boys in their terrible state shortly after being rescued; but they also were shocked and surprised that the man responsible was someone they thought they knew so well.

Like many social workers I've encountered in other countries, they were reluctant to condemn their colleague outright without hearing from him what had led to this terrible cruelty. Perhaps it was simply too much for them to accept. Until a few months before, these boys had actually been housed in their orphanage. But "someone" — no one could tell me exactly who — had decided that boys and girls should be separated. That someone sent the boys off to the other home where there was no government oversight.

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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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There were records of food supplied to the orphanage by the government, like chicken and other meat, but no sign of where this food had gone. None of it was fed to the children, who lay in puddles of their own urine and waste, their sharp little bones protruding from their tiny bodies.

One soldier described the scene as being like a Bosnian death camp. Others talked about the rage they felt when they found three adults cooking in the kitchen, preparing dinner for themselves, while the children lay dying from starvation in other rooms.

The smell was so bad, one soldier told me, that you could smell it from outside in the street. He said it even overpowered the smell of the food cooking in the kitchen.

That did not appear to bother the adults living there, including two women employed to work at the orphanage. They are both seen in two of the photographs, and this is perhaps one of the most curious things of all: they didn't mind having their picture taken with these starving boys in the background. Looking at their faces, one even smiling for the camera, I can only imagine they thought this was absolutely normal. Or that these special needs boys, who could not talk or communicate properly, were not human to them.

They must have seen them as non-human to treat them this way: to see them growing weaker and sicker every day and do nothing to help them; to stand by while their lives slipped away into the filth and heat and misery of neglect. They had to be non-human in their eyes, for who would treat a human that badly?

It was difficult to imagine it all when I walked around the now-empty building, trying to envision what took place here, what it looked like the day U.S. and Iraqi soldiers made their grisly discovery.

But here and there were little signs. The urine stains on the floor. The stench. And the soldiers.

The men of the 82nd Airborne and the civil affairs team that came to the rescue of these boys were clearly moved by what they found here. Some even wept as they confronted the full horror before them. In the blistering Iraqi sun, reaching temperatures over 100 degrees every day, boys were tied to chairs and fences and deprived even of water for days at a time. They were dehydrated and weak to the point of death.

How could you take the most vulnerable children and subject them to such torture? That was on the mind of every soldier that saw what was done in this terrible place, where the caretaker's air-conditioned office stood neat and tidy, carpets lining the floor, a computer at his desk. The brand new cribs still had the plastic on their unused mattresses.

The local Iraqi council members who were called to the scene by the U.S. soldiers also wept at the sight. In fact, the head of the council continued to cry over and over as I interviewed him about what he'd seen. A woman on the council described how she had bought cake for the children and fed it to them at the hospital when they were being treated later that night.

"They ate like monsters," she said to me, showing me with her hands how they frantically shoved the sweet food into their mouths.

These Iraqi officials played a critical role in helping the children to the hospital that night and then to get back into the better orphanage. And Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office responded by ordering the arrest of all involved and telling the United States they would investigate.

But nothing has been made public about what happened and, in fact, efforts were made to keep the entire incident secret.

Our attempt to cover the story was initially shut down from up high, but we were ultimately able to expose what had happened because of support from within the U.S. military.

[fredhetz]

I fully admit that I haven't read this blog en toto yet but I'm astonished that this was going on in a city that is supposedly under US and allied forces control. How was this not discovered earlier?

[mom2three2]

I hope you are not implying it is US fault that the scumbags mistreated these poor little ones?
The responsibility for this horror lies with the ones who committed it!

[marizahofer]

:,( Thoose people over there are primitive, how come to do something like that with thoose children..... :(... American people are not could like that! soldiers still have family and heart... i'm so desapointed to some human beings, thoose primitive people don't deserve the earth where they're steping, nor the air wich they breath :'(....

[middle551]

Ms. Logan,

I don't know if you read your notebook blog, but I wanted to thank you for your report. My son was on the QRF that went with CPT Morales to the orphanage. He won't talk about what he saw other than to say that it was the worst thing he has ever seen. Your notebook entry and story last night has given us details of which we were unaware. Thank you for your reporting and I hope AP and Reuters picks this up.

[lilpappy45]

Ms. Logan
I am a retired soldier and watch CBS news every night. I see the bad that has been caused by this War (mind yiou I don't disagree with it) but for someone like yourself (a highly respected news reporter) to bring us a story of such caliber and finally showing how our troops are doing some good is amazing. The American public needs to see more good then bad, and this capped it off. Thank you for your hard work and dedication not only to the way you bring us the news but the way you handle yourself with our soldiers.

[bradblauser]

Ms. Logan:

If there were any disabled boys in the group, I'm here in Iraq and offer free high quality pediatric rugged terrain wheelchairs for disabled children.

Could you contact me regarding whether or not any of these boys would benefit from such a gift? I could deliver it to them personally with the escort of this Civilian Afffairs team.

[e-mail]

[rugrats122]

I am disappointed that CBS News has not included the footage of Lara Logan's interview with the extremely good-looking soldier in the internet video for this story. This footage was shown on the TV broadcast.

Tricia

[evanttseven]

Ms. Logan, Excellent piece, THANK YOU! Kudos to those courageous soldiers, this was a call to grace and they responded with a tenderness and mercy that will touch all who hear of it and generate much good. Do a follow-up please!

[tessab1]

I am sitting at my desk and crying uncontrollably. The absolute hooror of this story is sickening. Thank you to the wonderful soldiers who did not ignore a boy on the ground. I'm sure that there were people nearby that must have known this was going on and ignored it. Shame on those. I can not wrap my brain around the fact that the Iraqi's will blame us. The food was there, the beds were there the Iraqi's were there. Find out who was responsible and punish them.period.

[m2j8]

thank you for doing this story. thankyou for showing the courage and dedication of our troops. they all have such big hearts and are only trying to complete the mission that has been given to them. my son was also involved iin the rescue we are just so proud of him and his team. (the civil affairs team). just as middle551 we didn't know all the facts of the mission. he said only that they had rescued some children who were in a real bad way. and that hopefully they will get the care they need.we are so proud of all our men & women serving. may GOD put a blanket of protection over all of them.

[talatmukhtar]

As an Iraqi citizen, I can tell that no body knows about this horrific crime that just add one to the hundreds of crimes in Iraq, the US backed Iraqi government is standing helpless and hopeless in front of these challenges. the culprit in this case if would ve been known will go in impunity just the same as many previous.

[brokenspurs]

Thank you so much Lara Logan for this story. My son was part of this rescue and I am so proud of these guys. I am so proud to be his mom. I have always said that GOD puts us where he needs us and these children definately needed our guys to save them! God bless these guys!

[ksdave58]

Ms Logan:

I have cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In this country, parents have starved kids with c.p. So I'm not shocked.

I am grateful, though, to the 82nd Airbourne for rescuing my little brothers. I call them that because I know what it's like to feel disabled and helpless and even abused and hated as a child for a very brief time.

Anyway, thank God for the men of the 82nd. I was anti-war because thank Vgod thoes guys were there.

[christine621]

Thank God for leading these soldiers to these poor young boys. My son is just finishing his AIT as an MP in the Army. Since he enlisted I have struggled with his decision to join. I read about things like this and I realize that he is needed...to make a difference.... Just as these fine soldiers did rescuing these children. I have to believe that God will use my one and only child to make a difference, just as these brave soldiers have done.

[mphagemann]

Thank you for bringing this story to the attention of the American Public. It is sickening to think that there are people out there that could treat children in such a reprehensible manner. The people who are guilty of this extreme cruelty should be taken out and shot like rabid dogs.

Mary

[twinkie1cat]

As a special educator of multihandicapped children much like many of these, I cried. For these are my babies. The little boy Lara mentioned wrapping around her, My little Greg did that too.

One thing we need to remember, though, is that conditions in American institutions for the disabled were not much better than this only about 35 years ago. Geraldo Rivera did an expose called Willowbrook. It lead to the deinstitutionalization movement and PL 94.142 which said that the states had to educate children with disabilities.

Even today handicapped people are denied adequate housing, education, employment opportunities and care. They are still cloistered in nursing homes and treated as less than human. America has come a long way, but until people with disabilities are truly welcomed in our schools and are taught only by REAL special ed teachers, and community groups stop fighting against group homes in their neighborhoods, we still have a long way to go.

[agreenpig]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
So much of the history of the struggle between good and evil can be explained by Edmund Burke's observation. Time and again those who profess to be good seem to clearly outnumber those who are evil, yet those who are evil seem to prevail far too often. Seldom is it the numbers that determine the outcome, but whether those who claim to be good men are willing to stand up and fight for what they know to be right.

Too many citizens of the world do nothing. They are standing idly by, they are mere spectators. They sit on the sidelines instead of actively participating and working for the good. If good wins, they join in the celebration though they did nothing to produce the victory. If evil wins, they will complain long and loud, though their own apathy helped produce the undesirable result.

Do not allow evil to triumph. Do not do sit by and do nothing. Stand up and be counted, speak up against evil and speak out against evil men and their sinful deeds.

[dukeudevil]

Brokenspurs, you have every right to be exceptionally proud of your son. He did good.

Tessab1, how can one not cry? I cry each time I read something new about this story.

As an American, I take no pride in knowing my country started this war. Might things have been different for these boys had it not? I do not know, but I do take great pride in the quick actions and shocked reactions of our soldiers who found these boys.

Ms. Logan, thank you for pursuing this story. I have seen a great deal of your reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq, and it is invariably superb.

May our American daughters grow up to be as brave as Ms. Logan and our sons as compassionate as these soldiers from the 82nd. And above all, may Iraq soon find peace.

[kim3photos]

Thank you so much for doing this story. I have 2 special needs sons of my own and this story is breaking my heart but I want to learn more about these children. I hope and pray that someone with resources and power can do something to prevent further abuse happening to them. I applaud our soldiers who rescued them and gave them the much needed attention and hugs that they deserve.

[cutgrs]

CBS News has become my favorite news broadcasting company because of this story. No other major news company has made this story public, but CBS has, & it needs to be made public. For once, an uplifting story has come out of Iraq that not only shows the true heroism of our troops, but also shows the innocence of some Iraqi citizens, specifically children. Rather you are against the war or not, this story goes to show that our troops are making a difference in parts of the country.

Good job, All Americans.