Iraqi Orphanage Rescued by American and Iraqi Soldiers

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook, guest blogger and contributor

UPDATE 6/28/07 (9:00 a.m.)

This post accompanies a previous piece, originally posted by The Tanker Brothers: Where is the Outrage? which Spree at Wake Up America cross-posted here. This post attempts to answer that question, where is the outrage? and I do indeed think I stumbled upon it.

This video is as difficult to watch, as is reading Where is the Outrage?. When I asked how to identify The Tanker Brothers to my readers, Spree's answer was: "Brat from Tanker Brothers is a Canadian that shows more American spirit than half of our own countrymen."

What you do not get from the video is the commentary from The Tanker Brothers. What you do get in the video is the story of where the children are now; what happened to the adult "caretakers" of these 24 little boys, why were the children so terribly malnourished, why they were wearing no clothing, and besides finding and rescuing the boys, what did our soldiers have to say about these children.

So here's the video and I hope you'll read-on to discover what happened to the "outrage."


Video courtesy of Takster

Looking around the web to find the "outrage" and some extended praise for our troops, I found Lara Logan's blog. Logan is the reporter in the above video, she is a CBS Foreign Correspondent and it appears that she broke the initial story. She says this on her "My Life as a Military Spouse" blog:

I am the 'spouse' half of a military marriage. Here I share resources and my thoughts and opinions on military and various other news. From time to time I also share my view of military life and a few tidbits from my daily grind.

And here, on her blog, she has posted this:

After reporting on the compassionate U.S. soldier rescue of abused Iraqi orphans, CBS’s Lara Logan ran a follow up story on the June 21 edition of The Early Show.

Upon reporting that the Iraqi labor and social affairs minister accused Lara Logan of reporting a "lie" and that the U.S. soldiers that rescued these emaciated boys "have no compassion," Logan played a gracious remark from an unidentified U.S. soldier.

That got my attention. I eventually found a report from NewsBusters. Read the entire transcript here, and view the Early Show video of the Harry Smith - Lara Logan interview here.

When questioned by host Harry Smith, Logan clearly sided with the U.S. soldiers against the denying Iraqi government official.

"Well, what's upsetting about the controversy, Harry, is that the plight of these boys is actually being lost in all of this. But incredibly, the Iraqi ministry is trying to make the U.S. the bad guys. They're blaming them, America as Iraq's enemy, we're being told, instead of acknowledging what was done by the soldiers who rescued these boys. And -- and, in fact, it's important to know that they were local Iraqi leaders who helped the U.S. rescue the boys that night. And when I spoke to them a week later, Harry, they were still in shock about what they'd seen. They wept constantly, throughout the interview as they recounted the horror. And that horror is now being denied by the ministry."

From what I can see and read, The Early Show's Harry Smith chose not to mention American troops, not to credit the troops, not to support the troop's valor and humanity - he totally ignored the American troop's involvement. Of Lara's comment that an Iraqi ministry is trying make America the "bad guy,"...nothing from Smith. He did not follow-up on Logan's "defense" of the troops - never a word about the troops and their part in the rescue. A MSM omission of this sort is evil, irresponsible and unpatriotic, in my opinion.

Why is this incredible rescue not on prime time news several times a week, at least for awhile? Why are the soldiers not interviewed? Why isn't this a big deal - especially now that we know that America is the "bad guy"? Can it be that the press does not want to champion our military - their humanity, how well they do their job...does not want to show just one more fine reason why America should be in Iraq...does not want to destroy their imposed myth that America is an invader and an occupier? I think the answer to all of the above is "yes."

Of soldiers and "humanity," I found this wonderful article as I was researching the Baghdad orphanage:U.S. Soldier Adopts Disabled Iraqi Boy - National Guardsman Bonded With Abandoned Boy While On Duty in Baghdad