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CNN Live At Daybreak

Wounded Iraqi Boy Flown to Kuwait for Treatment

Aired April 16, 2003 - 06:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well a little boy hurt in the war has touched hearts around the world. His name is Ali. His family was killed and he's been terribly hurt. You've probably seen him. His arms are gone, he has burns on his chest.
We want to go live to Rula Amin in Baghdad to tell us -- tell us more about his progress. He's in a Kuwait City hospital right now, right -- Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct, Carol. Ali Ismaeel Abbas is now in Kuwait and he has a chance to recover from his wounds and maybe even from his tragic story. Yesterday, before he left the hospital here in Baghdad, we went and spoke to Ali in one of Baghdad's poorest hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He lies in a hospital in pain. Too much pain, he says. His whole torso is burned and he lost both arms. It happened, says his family, when a missile hit his home in the middle of the night at the beginning of the war. He is surrounded by his uncles and aunts but not his mother or father or his two sisters and brother, they were all killed in the same attack.

His uncle tells him it's God's will. His aunt tells him not to cry, but she herself is in tears even before she finishes her sentence. She lives in the house next door.

We could hear the plane flying over our homes for more than 10 minutes, but I didn't think they will hit us.

An uncle who was pulled out of the same rubble says that there is nothing military around their area and so they felt safe.

It's all farmland around us and we didn't even think that we could be hit. We just stayed in our beds.

When we asked Ali what he wanted now, he said I want new arms.

Many have offered to help, to take him out of Iraq. He says he will go anywhere but not to the U.S. They did this to me, he said. They killed my whole family.

Late in the afternoon, after three weeks since he'd suffered these terrible wounds, Ali was evacuated from the hospital in a Red Crescent ambulance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now Ali is out of that hospital in Baghdad and he is getting help because the media is focusing on his tragic story. But there are dozens of Iraqi children still here in very tragic conditions and they do need similar help -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula Amin, reporting live from Baghdad this morning, many thanks to you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired April 16, 2003 - 06:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well a little boy hurt in the war has touched hearts around the world. His name is Ali. His family was killed and he's been terribly hurt. You've probably seen him. His arms are gone, he has burns on his chest.
We want to go live to Rula Amin in Baghdad to tell us -- tell us more about his progress. He's in a Kuwait City hospital right now, right -- Rula?

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct, Carol. Ali Ismaeel Abbas is now in Kuwait and he has a chance to recover from his wounds and maybe even from his tragic story. Yesterday, before he left the hospital here in Baghdad, we went and spoke to Ali in one of Baghdad's poorest hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He lies in a hospital in pain. Too much pain, he says. His whole torso is burned and he lost both arms. It happened, says his family, when a missile hit his home in the middle of the night at the beginning of the war. He is surrounded by his uncles and aunts but not his mother or father or his two sisters and brother, they were all killed in the same attack.

His uncle tells him it's God's will. His aunt tells him not to cry, but she herself is in tears even before she finishes her sentence. She lives in the house next door.

We could hear the plane flying over our homes for more than 10 minutes, but I didn't think they will hit us.

An uncle who was pulled out of the same rubble says that there is nothing military around their area and so they felt safe.

It's all farmland around us and we didn't even think that we could be hit. We just stayed in our beds.

When we asked Ali what he wanted now, he said I want new arms.

Many have offered to help, to take him out of Iraq. He says he will go anywhere but not to the U.S. They did this to me, he said. They killed my whole family.

Late in the afternoon, after three weeks since he'd suffered these terrible wounds, Ali was evacuated from the hospital in a Red Crescent ambulance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now Ali is out of that hospital in Baghdad and he is getting help because the media is focusing on his tragic story. But there are dozens of Iraqi children still here in very tragic conditions and they do need similar help -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rula Amin, reporting live from Baghdad this morning, many thanks to you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com