Recovering Iraqi Orphans Face Bleak Future

(CBS)  It was a welcome Capt. Ben Morales could not resist. He walked into the room and a little boy reached out his arms to him, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.

Morales was back to check on the 24 boys he and his soldiers rescued just more than a week ago.

The boys were literally starving to death in a government-run orphanage for special needs children. Those in charge left them naked and tied down, while piles of new clothes and food were stored right down the hallway.

Thanks to these soldiers, and the joint Iraqi-U.S. patrol that first found them, the boys' lives were saved.

"Hey guys?" asks Lt. Jason Smith as he walks up to boys in cribs making noises like them.

When we visited them again today in the safety of a different special needs orphanage nearby, the contrast was stunning.

"Look at 'em," Morales said. "They are all smiling; they're all laughing!"

It's obvious how much better off these boys are at this orphanage. The problem is they are still special needs children with no access to specialized care.

Smith and his wife, Kara, in North Carolina are both special education teachers. Logan asked Smith if one of the boys was in the United States, what kind of care would he get.

"He wouldn't be sitting in this, that's for sure," Smith said of the crib the boys are kept in. "He'd be in a wheelchair most of the time."

But in Iraq, they're understaffed, underpaid and the social workers lack specialized training.

"The problem here is what you said earlier: There is no education, so they're gonna do the same thing everyday — until they aren't here any more," Smith said.

One little boy almost did die. When the soldiers found him, he was covered in thousands of flies, unable to move. They never thought he'd recover as much as he has.

The boys are being fed now. They're safe. They've got somewhere to sleep. But what kind of future do they have?

"This is it, right here," Smith said. "This is their future."

The plight of the boys has outraged Iraqis, with excerpts of our report aired constantly on local TV for almost two days. The public pressure forced the Labor and Social Affairs Minister to speak out — but instead of taking responsibility, he lashed out at the U.S., calling America Iraq's enemy.

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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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As CBS News was filming new scenes on Wednesday, the minister was telling the nation these boys are perfectly healthy — and that Logan's report was a lie.

And these are the same soldiers the minister said have no compassion.

"We'll leave here and he'll remember us 'til the day he dies," Smith said. "He'll remember us as the guys that came in here and took him out of the situation he was in and put him in this situation. He'll never be able to tell us thanks. He doesn't need to really."

The fear in Iraq is that there may be other vulnerable children in similar or worse conditions who haven't yet been found.

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If you'd like information on helping out the orphans, click here.

[tnt1954]

40th annual summer of love starts today.
still there is warfare on the planet.
strife, revenge, hatred, rascism, no peace,
no justice, know god, know peace, no agreement,
no consensus, racing continues for no apparent
purpose than adornment. angela davis's dire
predictions have come to bear. patti hearst
lies kidnapped again by the king of spain.
the tract houses are not being built. ms. goodman of the democracy network tries and
cries so hard. the dove of peace of ewtn
still flies into the universe as rosaries
are said for universal peace with all their
might of mind. yet still there is no end
to conflict. babies still lie untended.
people don't say what they intended. people
misinterpret what was intended. our wives
are all at sea, like penelope, and the men
are just like ulysses, waiting patiently
at home for the women who have a husband
in every port to return home. like paulie
of studs lonigan i await eileen's return.
was she killed at the bank shootout today?
will peach surprise stay alive today?
will operation peachy keen stop drug addiction
and money laundering, laundry detergent as
impostor dope to make all addicts squeaky clean?
lord knows the flour children tried and they
are still trying in other ways. a memorial
will be erected one day to the flower children
who wilted and died in 1967 when so many
went to heaven.

[bridgey1017]

I just have to say I am extremely saddened by this story. How disgusting that a human being could be treated like that. I am grateful that our U.S. troops have stepped in to help these boys and maybe they will now have a chance at a better life. The pictures were very disturbing and some of them were almost so bad they were unnecessary to look at, they brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you CBS. Maybe you can track the boys' progress?
God Bless our troops.

[hi2you-2009]

I guess I missed something in all the news broadcasts as well as the stories I have read. It never mentioned that the reason these boys were in an orphanage was because their parents were killed. You don't know that to be the reason. These were "special needs" children. Something tells me that their parents couldn't take care of them because of their needs, therefore putting them in an orphanage. Just look at all the children in the US in orphanages. They aren't all their because their parents were killed, they are there because their parents can't provide them with the neccessary care required for a special needs child. There are many things that have gone wrong with this war that can be blamed on our administration. But, come on, the country was in great turmoil before we ever thought of going to war! How quick we are to forget this!

[oasie]

Thank you matt-b3,also btw the U.S. supports the Sheite militias,and thanks to that my uncle,head chief of Al-kahraba, the electric company in Iraq,was killed along with my cousin,his son.He was Sunni,and most do not know this but the Sheites have a list of over 2000 sunnis given to them by the U.S. to kill,doctors,enginners,all kinds of people

[macktruck22]

check this site out WWW.FELONYMILLS.COM similar srories on bazar events around the world. it's WWW.FELONYMILLS.COM

[matt-b3]

How naive have we become ? no matter how CBS try to divert our attention from the glaring truth

These children were made orphan from the day George Bush said "today on my orders our troops started operation Iraqi freedom"

He should have said : today on my orders thousans of children will be made orphans and and hundreds of thousands will be killed and hundreds of thousands will lose an arm or a leg and millions will go under the poverty line and millions will lose their home and rivers of tears will run in the streets of Baghdad.

All of that to save the nation from WMD and if we don't find WMD , then don't worry will use "getting rid of Saddam" as an excuse

[texasgranny1]

The best thing for these Children is to be removed from Iraq,period and placed somewhere else where maybe some families could take them in.Remember.no matter if these children is not AMERICANS,they did not ask to be brought into this world and deserve a chance in life like each one of us..also,These Children r still God's children..and JESUS..we must take care of these children..GET THEM OUT OF IRAQ..AND I praise the troops who found these precious souls.i think it was the hand of God that led them to these children..i agree.People who is millionares,should..do something..maybe,Angela Joley should consider..taking some of these children..herself and some of her other celebrity friends...

[misands]

This story makes me very proud of our troops, and it makes it that much harder for me to read about the 14 soldiers we lost in 48 hours. May God protect our most important resource - our men and women in uniform.
By the way, as much as I detest Bush, his policies, and this war, I refuse to let that blind me to seeing the goodness in our individual soldiers.

[oasie]

as an iraqi it pains me to see this type of thing,but let us also remeber that these children were not born orphans but made orphans after their paretns and family were killed,and this is still nothing comparable to Abu Ghraib,but nonetheless,we need to blame the us b4 anyone else

[kim3photos]

As the mother of 2 special needs children it is breaking my heart to watch this story but I want to learn more. If these people do not see the urgent need to help these little ones then it makes one wonder what else they are turning their heads about.