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CNN Live At Daybreak

Wounded Iraqi Boy Becomes Symbol of Human Toll of War in Iraq

Aired April 17, 2003 - 06:06   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: The story of Ali Ismail Abbas Hamza has become symbolic of the human toll of the war in Iraq. He's the boy whose arms were severed in a rocket attack that killed 16 members of his family, including his parents.
CNN's Jason Bellini shows us the next step along Ali's road to recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ali Ismail Abbas' eyes open wide, peer into the bright, flashing lights greeting him at 3:00 a.m., as he's taken from an ambulance into a Kuwait City hospital specializing in burn treatments.

DR. IMAD AL-NAJADA, ALI'S DOCTOR: He was nervous with (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but also he wasn't being -- he don't want anybody to touch him. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which he was in, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) than the people who was around him.

BELLINI: The 12-year-old's first concern: having arms again, after losing both in the missile blast that killed 16 members of his family, including his mother and step-father, a brother and two sisters.

His doctor, Imad al-Najada, tells him he will eventually get prosthetic limbs, but first, they must treat the life-threatening burns infected and inadequately treated in Iraq.

In his first operation, the doctor shaved away the burned skin covering 30 percent of his body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After losing 16 members of his family, does he want to live?

AL-NAJADA: Of course. Of course, he wants to live. Still, he's the one, the symbol of his family now. And he's the one who will describe the crisis, what happened.

BELLINI: The extent to which he's now a symbol to the world of the depths of disaster, the human toll taken by this war, perhaps too much for him to comprehend. And the life-threatening consequences caused by a midnight missile, too profound to now appreciate.

The U.S. military flew him by helicopter to Kuwait, but he says he won't go to America for treatment. "They killed my family," he says. As the world looks into his eyes, his story takes on a life of its own.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Kuwait City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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




Iraq>


Aired April 17, 2003 - 06:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The story of Ali Ismail Abbas Hamza has become symbolic of the human toll of the war in Iraq. He's the boy whose arms were severed in a rocket attack that killed 16 members of his family, including his parents.
CNN's Jason Bellini shows us the next step along Ali's road to recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ali Ismail Abbas' eyes open wide, peer into the bright, flashing lights greeting him at 3:00 a.m., as he's taken from an ambulance into a Kuwait City hospital specializing in burn treatments.

DR. IMAD AL-NAJADA, ALI'S DOCTOR: He was nervous with (UNINTELLIGIBLE), but also he wasn't being -- he don't want anybody to touch him. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which he was in, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) than the people who was around him.

BELLINI: The 12-year-old's first concern: having arms again, after losing both in the missile blast that killed 16 members of his family, including his mother and step-father, a brother and two sisters.

His doctor, Imad al-Najada, tells him he will eventually get prosthetic limbs, but first, they must treat the life-threatening burns infected and inadequately treated in Iraq.

In his first operation, the doctor shaved away the burned skin covering 30 percent of his body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After losing 16 members of his family, does he want to live?

AL-NAJADA: Of course. Of course, he wants to live. Still, he's the one, the symbol of his family now. And he's the one who will describe the crisis, what happened.

BELLINI: The extent to which he's now a symbol to the world of the depths of disaster, the human toll taken by this war, perhaps too much for him to comprehend. And the life-threatening consequences caused by a midnight missile, too profound to now appreciate.

The U.S. military flew him by helicopter to Kuwait, but he says he won't go to America for treatment. "They killed my family," he says. As the world looks into his eyes, his story takes on a life of its own.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Kuwait City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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




Iraq>