Little Ali rearmed for life

The Australian ^ | October 14 2003 | Peter Wilson

[knighthawk]

Ali Ismail Abbas's dream has come true - he has been fitted with a new pair of arms.

It will be a few months before he can fully use the prosthetics, but the 12-year-old Iraqi has made startling progress since losing his arms - and his parents - in a US missile attack on Baghdad just six and a half months ago.

Getting new arms and "being whole again" was the first in a long list of goals he set himself, which still include driving a car, eating with a spoon, brushing his teeth and eventually supporting his six sisters in Baghdad.

The arms were fitted at a hospital in southwest London with funds raised by the UK Limbless Association through a British media appeal.

He still requires months of training and a lifetime of support. The left prosthetic will be largely cosmetic because that arm was destroyed just below the shoulder, but his new right arm will make him almost independent, with sophisticated electronics allowing him to control the hand, wrist and elbow.

Having visited Ali and his guardian, his uncle Mohammed, at the house in Wimbledon, where they have been staying during his treatment, it has been hard to believe his progress, his good spirits and his determination to get on with life.

A bright boy, he has thrown himself into English lessons with the intention of perhaps becoming an English translator to support himself and his sisters.

He has even begun attending a private school for three hours each morning, where classes are conducted in English.

Ali was expected to die in an inadequate Baghdad hospital until Perth reader Tony Trevisan asked if he could help after seeing a photograph by John Feder in The Australian. With translator Stewart Innes, The Australian eventually organised his evacuation by the US military to Kuwait and he was later sent to London for specialist treatment.

[knighthawk]

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[Pan_Yans Wife]

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[Publius6961]

Hmmm.
A good reason to celebrate.

Now he can put on a homicide bomber's vest all by himself!

Thanks, for sharing that with us "Mite".

[Fierce Allegiance]

the 12-year-old Iraqi ...long list of goals he set himself, which still include driving a car...

at 12, i sure wanted to drive a car, too.

[agrace]

What, now all Iraqi kids are potential suicide bombers? Pretty cold-hearted view of things, with no evidence to bear it out. I don't see Iraqi kids throwing rocks at US soldiers or vowing to be martyrs for Allah like Palestinian ones. And I don't hear of Iraqi parents teaching their kids such either.

The poor kid lost his parents and his arms in an airstrike. He's an innocent who deserves rehabilitation.

Funny, I thought helping kids was one of the reasons our troops often give for feeling good about being there.

[Publius6961]

You wouldn'r understand.
It's a sandmaggot thing.

[Symblized]

Meanwhile, the kid says: "I keep asking myself: 'Why are they bombing Iraqi people? What have we done to them?' I hoped that the pilot who hit our house would be burned as I am burned and my family were burned."

[keri]

Thanks for update, KH.

Whatever might happen to this kid, I am grateful someone was caring enough to really help him.

I don't see that it has hurt at all to do a little good, here.