Two Rescued Iraqi Orphans Die
Troops Rescued Mistreated Boys From Special Needs Orphanage; Two Dead Of Cholera
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U.S. and Iraqi soldiers provide medical care to boys discovered naked and abused in a Baghdad orphanage on June 10, 2007. Soldiers found 24 severely malnourished boys, some tied to their beds, in the orphanage, yet there was a room full of food and clothing nearby, in this photo given to CBS News. (CBS)
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Play CBS Video Video Rescued Orphans Still At Risk U.S. and Iraqi soldiers thought they had rescued 24 abused Iraqi boys when they liberated them from a corrupt state-run orphanage. But as Lara Logan reports, the orphans aren't out of danger yet.
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Video Soldiers Visit Rescued Orphans U.S. soldiers looked in on the 24 special needs boys they rescued from an Iraqi orphanage. The kids have improved, but few resources are available for their long-term care. Lara Logan reports.
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Video Eye To Eye: Iraqi Orphans Only On The Web: More than 20 mistreated boys were rescued from a Baghdad orphanage by U.S. and Iraqi troops. Lara Logan talked with one soldier about the boys' current condition.
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Photo Essay Baghdad Orphanage Horror U.S., Iraqi soldiers rescue 24 severely malnourished and abused boys.
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Photo Essay Iraq Shrine Hit Again Two minarets of Askariya Shiite Shrine in Samarra bombed; dome was destroyed last year.
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Photo Essay Iraq In Pictures A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
They were among a group of 24 whose lives the soldiers believed they had saved when they rescued them from a nearby state-run orphanage this summer.
As first reported on CBS News, the boys were found naked, bound and starving to death, while the kitchen down the hallway was packed with unopened food and piles of brand new clothing sat unused, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports.
One boy, Saddam Ali Abbas, was the first to die shortly after his rescue.
Now, some five months later, two more boys are dead from cholera they contracted while under state care:
Staff Sgt. Mitchell Gibson - part of the original rescue team - was shocked at the deaths and condition of the boys today: “They deserve to live and they deserve to have a happy life and at this rate I don't see these kids having a happy life.”
“Well if they keep dying at the rate they are dying they wont have any life at all?” Logan said.
“No. And I believe these kids, they've fought for their second chance to live,” Gibson said. “They're strong kids, but they are only as strong as the people taking care of them.”
And that's where much of the problem lies.
Despite the reported arrest of an administrator and two security guards responsible for the boys’ well-being, no one has yet been charged.
But while Logan was visiting the orphanage, several government officials were there to begin an investigation.Find out how you can help the Iraqi orphans
“One of my concerns is that this is just going to blow over and we are going to be seeing the same thing again unless we hold people to the fire and hold them to task to do the right thing,” Navy Lt. Jim Cook.
Worried about the health of several boys, the soldiers say they'll be back soon with U.S. doctors.
But they admit that's only a temporary solution - and the boys’ fate really lies in the fate of the Iraqi government.
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- Cholera! There is just no excuse for anyone getting cholera. Well, the Bible says that we wil be judged based on how we care for "the least of these". Sodom was destroyed because they did nto help the needy. Apparently our little special education boys still were not getting adequate care. I think it is time to get everyone out of Iraq who wants to be and is not involved in terrorism. America has room and our special education laws could help those boys become all they can be.
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- Feely, I am quite sure ''you'' can show us how the Americans killed these boys, probably after sodomizing them.
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- Feely, where are you, here are American soldiers taking Iraqi kids from their homes. How can you let this moment slide by without showing how bad Americans are?
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