Luk 18:16 But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Posted on 06/18/2007 4:54:00 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(CBS News) BAGHDAD -- It was a scene that shocked battle-hardened soldiers, captured in photographs given to 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 there 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 emaciated little bodies tied to the cribs, CBS News reports exclusively. They had been kept this way for more than a month, according to the soldiers called in to rescue the dying 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 Beal 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 stock room, 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. But I did the right thing and I turned him over to the Iraq authorities which were also on the scene."
He has since disappeared and is believed to be on the run. But the two security guards are in custody, arrested on the orders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The 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 you know 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 shown in the photos was carried out of the orphanage by Beal. 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," Beal 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 throughout 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.
This is heartbreaking stuff.
Another example of muslim mercy and love.
I hope the MSM shows PICTURES.....like they did of our soldiers hanging from lamposts...and of Abu Graib...or whatever it was called.....THIS should get some of the SOCCER MOMMIES to understand!
Absolutely horrible! And yet the Iraqi government does not allow adoption of Iraqi children. Makes no sense whatsoever. Those poor kids!
Thank you!
To their credit, CBS DID have a picture on this link.....
G-D BLESS OUR SOLDIERS!
Well, I hope they didn’t put any panties on those poor kids’ heads, or let dogs bark at them really loud or anything like that. Because, then that would be really bad and the MSM would have to cover it extensively or something.
Wow, just wow. This sucks the air out of my lungs.
And the same could be said for us.
You know these soldiers are going to have nightmares about this even fifty years from now. Still and all, God never gives a tree heavier fruit than it can bear.
Luk 18:16 But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Wow! Hard for me to hold back the tears.
Bless those little ones, they have been through so much, and bless the soldiers who discovered and saved them.
These aren't the bad guys. These are "our friends-the good muzzies"...Jeezuz!
I don’t watch, but I wonder if this was covered on Katie’s show this evening.
Only if she can spin it as something bad about the military.
Great legacy you have, Mohamed.
Why would incivilized savages care about their own?
Thanks for posting this! Brought tears to my eyes and once again our American soldiers show the best of what America has to offer.
Curious how the perps all “disappeared”.
Thank God for our wonderful military! Prayers for these children.
Dear Lord God.....please PLEASE protect our soldiers...
PLEASE, somehow, in Your Holy ways...comfort these families...
God Bless our Selfless Soldiers
Pray for W and Our Amazing Troops
Blurry screen.
Those poor children! How can people be so cruel?
God bless and keep our troops. They are the best.
Oh dear LORD.........
Thank you, God, for leading our military to find these kids.
.
Religion of Peace..... W told us so.
Prayers for these children and all concerned!
I bet there are many in the U.S.A. who adopt some of them.
May the Lord bless and protect these soldiers..I am so proud of them.
The story of the treatment of these kids is just heartbreaking. Monstrous.
Because if you'd given the guy what he deserved, CBS cameras would have held you up as "another example" of the military abusing the locals and you're no better than the terrorists. Very interesting that the criminals got away after being put in Iraqi custody.
I agree our soldiers deserve our constant prayers.
God will not continue to allow this type of hate for much longer.
Oh...I agree...completely...
Yep, this is torture, the real thing, not something dreamed up by the MSM. And it's being done not to prisoners of war, but innocent children. Where is the "human rights" crowd???
BTTT
What is considered wrong in the West is not always the same elsewhere ~ you might notice that the man who ran the orphanage disappeared after being released into Iraqi custody ~ it does not require a leap of logic to see that he was released.
We have gone far beyond freeing these people and now are trying to impose our beliefs on these people. There is an intricate web of cultural, ethnic and religious undertones in play here that are impossible for the Westerner to comprehend.
So what is the fuss about? The orphanage was only getting rid of unwanted children. Experts on health care tell us that starvation is an estatic way to die, especially if the estatic person is unwanted. Does not the fact that these children were unwanted make this perfectly okay? /sarcasm
Outside of western allied forces, I am convinced Iraq (and surrounding countries) is a moral wasteland.
speechless
This story and photos need to be sent to ALL in our email lists of family and friends. This is just terrible to think little children are treated this way. That alone should be reason to go to war!!!
God bless America! This is what its all about. Well done guys!
Saw this...Unbelievable. One soldier said if nothing else, helping these kids made his mission worthwhile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.