Bananation: Horror at Baghdad's Orphanage

There were foods.

There were clothes.

But there were none for these kids.

This was the horrid situation in an orphanage from hell in Baghdad. How could this happen when 3 caretakers, 1 guard and a director were working in the orphanage? When I saw the above photo on the front page of The New Paper (Jun 20, 07), I knew I have to research and write about the ordeal.

Bananation - The downfall of Saddam Hussein spells an erosion of Iraq, creating a living hell in its capital, Baghdad, especially. Wars had reduced the city to slums of vices. According to a Sunday Times Online (UK)'s report 'Democrats probe billions lost to Baghdad's corruption' (Nov 19, 06), $36 billion of Americans' taxpayers money and a further $22 billion of Iraq's own money for the reconstruction of Iraq were misapporiated. The US Occupation of Iraq apparently continues to unveil another heinous chapter of Iraq's civilised history as 24 reduced-to-bones boys were found naked in an orphanage in Baghdad. With amble foods and clothes for these helpless children, was it a sadistic indulgence that went unwatched in a governmentless land? CBS News reported that "nothing has been made public about what happened and, in fact, efforts were made to keep the entire incident secret."But one thing that we need no confirmation was the inhumane way that these orphans were treated.

Aroma from the kitchen greeted the Iraqis and American soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in Baghdad along the orphanage corridor. They saw 3 adults cooking a sumptuous meal. But they did not expect to see and smell an appalling contrast in the other room - 2 dozens of naked boys with bones piercing through their skins in a dark, unventaliated enclosure. Some were lying on the floor among their urine and feces, some are tied to their beds. All are starved and too feeble to stand. One of the boys was so weak that a soldier had to lift up his head to feed him.

If you think that the boy in this photo (left inset) looks terrible enough to win your sympathy, try imagining his open sores infested with flies. When he was rescued by an American solider, flies were crawling out of his mouth, nose and ears. This photo was taken after the soliders waved the thousands of flies off his bleeding body. Ironically, he became the foods for the flies . The sight of him and the rest of the children caused soldiers and Iraqis officials to weep. I was not at the scene but the photos are emotional enough to sink my heart.

After knowing how these kids lived their days at the orphanage, photo like this (left inset) always warms our heart. However, Iraqi Cabinet minister accused the Americans of an agenda for portraiting themselves as the humanitarian party. The news of the torture was also alleged to be untrue. Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mahmoud Mohammed al-Radhi, appeared to be proud of the boys' living condition when he told the media that these homeless boys were rescued from death on the street of Baghad. He also rebuked the Americans that the children belong to Iraq and not them. I can't help but to detect his innuendo that the handicapped boys, aged between 3 to 15 were better off starving in the orphanage than dying on the street. Would nationalities make any difference in a life and death matter? Politics aside, what the American soliders did was what every human with a heart would.

Whether the Iraqis authority likes it or not, the questions would be thrown at their very own people. Why would the caretaker in charge of the orphanage, who is a pyschologist and has worked in respected orphange torture the children in such a cruel way? How can 2 women caretakers smiled to the camera as they took photos with the skeletal boys in the background? Are they playing God in a war-torn country?

Now, the kids are fed and clothed. Bananation prays that they will bury the ordeal under the rubbles of the city and grow up healthily in Baghdad.